High School Is Murder
by Ghostwriter9396
Summary: Sai is a new student at Konaho High School a mesh of teen youth ranging from popular socials to emo psychos. In a school where half the teachers are pervs, what happens when a teacher with a clean rep shows up murdered and accused of molestation? Rated for a reason and Yaoi alert! Enjoy and R&R plz!
1. Chapter 1

Okay...so in this story its important to understand there is no ninja stuff going on...there's violence yes but its city war not ninja war...al^so any some characters appearnces have been slightly altered to fit into the 'real world' perspective...ex: Sasori has a full healthy hot body and not a kreepy ass puppet one...^w^

Also I haven't been a Naruto Fangirl since high school...I think the last role play thing I did was when I was 15...four years ago...sorry to say guys and gals that the charm kinda looses its magic after a few years...but because I'm a fun person I'll try something...not new but deffenately fortton...

Naruto: YEAH!

Me: Yeah?

Naruto: WE'RE BACK!

Me:...*turns to Neji*

Neji: don't look at me...I don't even know what we're doing here...

Me: disclaimer?

Lee: Nothing here is owned by Ghostwritter9396

Sasuke: she's just another overly crazed fangirl who has nothing better to do with her time

Me: *punches Sasuke* Why are you here? I hate you...

Sasuke: *clutching head* good question bitch

Shikamaru: can we get on with the story now?

Tobi: TOBI WANTS TO SEE TOBI IN HIGH SCHOOL!

Me: you're not in this chapter Tobi now stop shouting...but yeah lets get on with it...seeing as how theres alo a list of couples these poor readers have to scroll through...

Official Couples (Drama will temporarily change things):

Kurenai, Asuma

Rin, Kakashi

Hinata, Naruto

Temari, Shikamaru

Sakura, Sasuke

Tenten, Neji

Kiba, Shino

Deidara, Sasori

Pein, Konan

Tobi, Zetzu

Hidan, Kakuzu

Itachi, Kisame

Tayuya, Kidomaru

Kin, Zaku

Ino, Choji

High School Is Murder

By: Ghostwritter 9396

Ch. 1

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

The chanting voices rose high in the warm October air and flew to the open window of Dr. Tsunade, principal of Konaho High. Startled she looked up from her paper work as the vice principal, Shizune ran in breathless, her short black hair falling in her face as she over shot the door and stumbled forward before regaining her balance.

"Dr. Tsunade!"

"What the hell is going on, Shizune?" Snapped Tsunade, her long blonde bangs swaying as she rose from her seat and pointed out the window, waiting for answers.

"They're at it again." Shizune gasped. Tsunade was out of her office before the younger woman had a chance to fully regain her breath.

Outside a ring of students were gathered around two boys attempting to beat each other's brains out.

Konaho students were not devided up into normal high school groups. You had your popular preps and jocks, and your non popular geeks and nerds, but that was almost a mute point in this school thanks to the presence of two rival gangs; the Snakes and the Akatsuki. Today was a perfect example of why these two groups swept almost every other social crisis out of everyone's mind.

No one saw any provocation, no taunts or threats, and as far as they knew no physical effense had been made. All any one knew was that all of a sudden Jugo from the Snakes lept onto Pein from Akatsuki and before long the two were going at it like a prise fight.

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!" the students chanted as members from both gangs tried to get int the middle of the ring to support their brother in need.

"ALRIGHT BREAK IT UP!"

That simple command was enough to scatter three fourths of the spectators. The braver of the bunch huddled close together as they made room for the principal. Her golden eyes were flashing in rage. She marched straight up to the two boys who hadn't noticed her arrival or heard her command, heals clacking against the pavement. She took a hold of both of them, a shirt collar held firmly in each fist, and yanked them away from each other. Rumor had it she had grown up on the streets of the city and as a result she was so strong she could probably beat Mr. Gai, the Gym teacher, in a fight. Others said she was secretly a famous wrestler who had quit the glory life, changed her name (or more believably went back to using her birth name instead of a stage one) and settled down for a quiet life as a high school principal. Whatever her story was, there was no denying that even the toughest football player at the school was scared to take this chick on. She could make you shit your pants with a single glare.

"My office, NOW!" she shot at the boys who realized a minute too late that they were in for it.

As they passed students, Jugo's face settling into one of slight remorce, Pein's face remaining indifferent (though that could be because his face was covered with so many piercings it was usually impossible to tell what expression he wore), things started to settle back down to its normal tone. The principal was taking the show away so it was all over. It was a mark, that no one even bothered discussing the fight, that gives one the hint on how often that kind of thing happened at Konaho High.

"So, we're gonna meet up at the mall after school, right?" Ino asked her usual group of girls; Sakura, Kerin, Tayuya, Kin and Konan.

"I don't know if it's safe for us to be seen together, not after today. We should wait it out a few." Konan said, pointing to herself then Kerin, Tayuya and Kin. The three girls looked shocked at her.

"It was Jugo who went haywire not us." Kin snapped.

"Yeah, but he went haywire on my boyfriend." Konan shot back. Ino and Sakura rolled their eyes. All six of them had been best friends since middle school; ever since Kin, who's father was in the military, moved to Konaho. Kerin and Tayuya were both a year older than the rest of them, but it didn't matter seeing as how Tayuya failed a grade and Kerin purposely repeated a grade just because there was a boy in the younger year she liked and wanted to be in his class. Said boy moved at the end of the last school year and Kerin is now stuck in a younger class even though she's smart enough to be in college by now.

When they all entered high school, the girls had made a pact stating that no matter which group they found themselves in, Snakes, Akatsuki, or choosing to stay out of it altogether, they wouldn't let the drama keep them from being friends. Sakura reminded them of this and Konan, nervously, agreed.

"But if Pein beats me for being with Snake girls-"

"He wouldn't beat you." Ino cut her off. "He loves you. God, Konan, if there was ever a person Pein wouldn't beat it's you." There was a pause. "He doesn't beat you, does he?"

"No, not yet. But then, I've never really pushed him or anything. I don't know how he would react to this."

"Well, if he does, than we'll beat him." Tayuya said supportively. Konan smiled weakly.

"And cause a full out war between the gangs in the process."

"Stop being such a drama queen." Laughed Kin. "At least you're not DATING the adversary. How does Pein react when he sees Sasori and Orochimaru?"

"Punches me every time." Sasori said as he and Deidara walked up to them. "Hey, Konan, we better get going or Ms. Rin will have our heads."

"I thought Ms. Rin taught Health? Konan, you don't have Health now, do you?" Sakura asked confused.

"She's taken on Art now, too. Dei's mom quit." Sasori explained.

"She didn't quit, un! She's having a fucking baby!" Deidara shot at his read head friend.

Sasori's mouth twitched in an almost smile, Deidara was the only person in the world who could crack the red's straight face. "Either way you look at it, Rin's the new Art teacher and you know her policy on tardiness." Sasori said and he and the other two ran off, waving goodbye to the girls.

"HELLO CLASS!"

Naruto rolled his huge blue eyes. Here comes the king of all perverts, his fucking Godfather Jiraiya. The other students looked a little shocked but they immediately settled back down. Jiraiya's method was fool proof, wake up any snoozers and if the kids get too restless after his huge welcome, come down hard. It had taken a couple of weeks for the class to get used to this, but eventually Jiraiya's voice stopped causing students to fall out of their seats. A few more weeks and they wont even jump.

"So, who did they're homework last night?" Jiraiya asked as he walked around the room in his tan slacks and lether shoes, his long white hair tied in a low pony tail. He started collecting papers until he got to Naruto's desk.

"Well, Mr. Uzimaki?"

Naruto, who's usual good nature was always dimmed in his godfather's biology class, groaned. _Can't he drop the act for just a minute? It's not like he's obligated to call me that, but he never uses my first name. _

"Here." He thrust his paper at his 'teacher' and allowed a saticefying smile to creep onto his round face as Jiraiya fell backwards, a jet of blood coming out of both nostrils. Of course Naruto couldn't pass up the opportunity to embarrass Jiraiya, so he had drawn a naked girl (copied from one of his manga books) on the corner of his other wise A+ homework.

"After class, Naruto." Jiraiya whispered to him after he composed himself.

"Oh, come on this shit doesn't make any sense!" Hidan growled in a carrying whisper.

"Is there a problem, Hidan?" Mr. Sarutobi asked, walking over to the purple eyed teen.

"Damn right there's a problem. These fucking numbers add up to fucking nothing!"

"Let me see, which problem are you on?"

Asuma Sarutobi looked at the young man's text book. They were working on Chapter 2 for class work and then had the thirty review questions for homework. But it was all still review from basic geometry, if Hidan was having trouble comprehending the curriculum at this stage of the game, there was no way the boy could continue with his Calculus class.

"I can't do this shit man, I'm out!" Hidan exclaimed exasperatedly, flinging himself back in his seat.

Asuma tried to be gentle. Hidan was an unpredictable trouble maker. On good days, he was quiet and doodled weird religious cult designs on his notebook, but on days like this one he could be a handful. Asuma knew he was a member of the Akatsuki gang and he knew the boy could get violent if pushed too far. Before he could form a response however, another Akatsuki member, Kakuzu, reached over Hidan's shoulder and allowed his green eyes to trail down the numbers on the page.

"You forgot to carry the four."

A pause.

"Are you fucking me, man?"

"Not now." Kakuzu said, causing Hidan's face to flush.

Asuma shook his head, slightly amused. Apart from Pein, all the Akatsuki members were gay and they had no problem showing it. Something that was a problem from time to time.

"Alright, boys. Kakuzu why don't you and Hidan work on the assignment together. Hidan, try and take your time. Relax, if you don't finish in class just finish it for homework. Your not being timed right now."

"I'm not slow, Teach."

"I never said you were." Asuma said calmly.

He decided to let the boys alone before he said something that could put his ass into serious trouble with them. He started walking around the room looking at the other's progress. As usual, Neji and Tenten were already done with both the exercise and the homework. They were both pooring over Neji's textbook reading the next chapter.

Asuma stopped at a desk at the end of the first row in the front of the class.

"Nice, you managed to answer five questions this time, that's four more than yesterday."

Shikamaru's head snapped up. "Huh?"

"Try and answer at least two more before class if over, huh? You have ten minutes, I'm sure you can do it."

Asuma walked away knowing that Shikamaru would have the whole thing done in those ten minutes. He was a real genius when he put his mind to work.

He went back to his desk and started shuffling papers. He got up once more to answer another question before the bell rang, signaling lunch.

"Remember I want the thirty questions on page 98 ready to be handed in next class!" he called out to his bustling students as they gathered their things and headed out into the crowded halls. "That means all of them this time Shikamaru!"

Shikamaru turned to his teacher and made a face at him.

"I saw that." Laughed Asuma.

"So, punish me when I care." Shikamaru said before heading out.

Asuma started staking papers as the last of the students left. He checked his e-mail and found that he had a new one from the principal. It was probably telling him that the two boys who had gotten into that fight earlier were going to be out for a few days. School had only been in session for three weeks and half of the Snake gang and almost the entire Akatsuki gang had already been suspended at least once. Seeing as all of them were either sophomores or juniors, it was the first and it sure as hell wouldn't be the last. However when he opened it he saw that it was regarding a new student transfer. It said his name was Sai, and that he would be joining his advanced Calculus class next period. Asuma let his eyes trail down the information about the kid and found that he was impressed. The boy was only 15 and he was in all advanced courses, including art, and he didn't have a black mark to his name. _Well, not yet anyways._ Asuma thought grimly. Who knew what would happen to the kid at this damn school. It was very possible that one of the gangs would try and recruit him if they took interest. He read on. It explained that the boy had been in foster care ever since he was ten, after his parents were killed in a drive by shooting. It was made worse when he was separated from his brother and two years ago received the word that his brother had died from a bad case of ammonia. The foster family he had been with was so large that no one realized how bad he was until it was too late.

"Outch." Asuma muttered as he read. He saw that as a result of the trauma, and abuse in various homes, he was mistrusting and kept to himself.

"I don't wonder." Asuma whispered as his eyes hit the bottom of the e-mail.

"You don't wonder what?"

Asuma looked up and his face broke out into a huge grin. He got up and took Kurenai Yuhi into his arms. She was wearing a tight black skirt and red flowing shirt. Her black locks fell to her shoulders, framing her face beautifully. He leaned down and kissed her gently in greating.

"Did you get this?" he asked her as they broke apart. She looked over his shoulder and stared at the e-mail.

"Yes, I think every teacher did. We're going to have to watch him, make sure everythings alright with him now."

Asuma nodded, slightly destracted by a few strands of her hair falling in his face. He inhailed deeply, closing his eyes momentarily to truly allow himself to savor the sent. He took in roses. He loved it, he loved her.

"So, Asuma, honey, I have some news."

"Hmm?" he turned to his fiancé, curiosity blazing in his eyes. _Was it about the wedding? _It was to take place in another week, after which both of them would tell this place to screw itself for two wonderful weeks, escaping to a little remote cabin in the woods he owned.

He listened, asking her to repeat what she just said, then swooping her up in his arms and spinning her around. He gave her another deep kiss.

Okay, so a few things are different here...one, I did not name the chapter nor will I...I usually do but because this is a mystery and semi-thriller I feel that would take away from the suspence...it does get better...

anyhow please R&R

Tobi: BYE BYE!

Me: darn it Tobi stop shourting

Tobi: *looking hurt* but...Tobi's a good boy...

Me: Yes, now be quiet

Tobi: but Tobi wants a cookie

Me: *stares blankly at Tobi* no...

Tobi: but Tobi's a good boy!

Me: *reaches out and takes mask off*

Tobi: DMN IT BITCH! *covers face with hands*

Me: CAN IT MADARA! *kicks ass and sends him flying in the air*

now that that's out of the way...

Yakko (from Animaniacs): *blows kiss* GOOD NIGHT EVERYBODY!

Me: *stares then face palms* I give up...


	2. Chapter 2

Me: YAY CHAPTER 2 IS DONE! *jumps and down cheering*

Tobi: YAY! Tobi will now see Tobi in high school!

Me: *still cheering punches Tobi out* disclaimer anyone?

Konan: *grinning* Ghostwritter9396 does not own Naruto or anything.

Sakura: she's just a lazy fangirl who doesn't have a life

Me: go and suck your gay boyfriend bitch

Ino: *holding Sakura back and smiling* Okay on to the story!

Me: *dancing in a fight stance* bring it PINKY! Huh? *looks over at readers* oh yeah, enjoy *turns back to Sakura* we gonna dance or what princess?

High School Is Murder

By: Ghostwritter9396

Ch. 2

"Hey there, Mermaid."

"Excuse me." Hinata Hyuga whispered, her long black hair falling in her face as she tried to squeeze past the three boys who had crowded around her.

"Aw, come on, Mermaid, how's bout you and me go around the corner and fulfill a little beach side fantasy?" one of them said slyly, pressing his face close to hers. She felt her face turn red and, realizing that she wasn't going to be able to push them away, she pulled her arms close to her chest, hands up to her face, loose fists hiding her mouth. Her muscles tightened and her eyes closed. She was trying to will them away as she pressed her back against the wall as far as she could.

The three boys who had cornered her were members of Snake, the twins Sakon and Ukon, and their best friend Suigetsu. All of them had whitish hair that fell half way past their ears, the tips of Suigetsu's died a light sky blue. All wore identical black baggy jeans and colored sneakers. Each wore a long sleeved cotton shirt with hood, they looked more like triplets then twins and friend. Only their facial features made it clear that the twins and Suigetsu were not related. But if you didn't look closely, you could mix them up. Today though, they were identifiable by the color of their shirts; Sukon's was green with black stripes, Ukon's was red with black stripes, and Suigetsu's was dark blue with black stripes. They had 'emo' written all over them.

A few more taunts and suggestions were thrown at her before…thank God.

"Excuse me gentlemen, I believe the lady is trying to get through."

Neji was there, with Naruto beside him, both boys looking pissed as hell.

"Naw, we're having a chat." Ukon said brightly.

"Yeah, she's alright." Suigetsu laughed.

"More then alright," Sakon smirked. "I'd say she's F.I.N.E. fine." He reached out and swept some of her raven hair off her shoulders, revealing her red face. She flinched away from his touch and tears started tickling silently down her face. Sakon went to lift her face but Neji stopped him.

"It doesn't look that way to me." Neji whispered dangerously. Naruto reached through the boys and gently took Hinata's hand, pulling her to his protective side and wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"Hinata and I have reading now, last class of the day. I'll walk her, she'll be alright now." He told Neji who nodded.

The other boys started protesting, getting nasty expressions on their faces. They started to follow Naruto and Hinata but Neji stopped them.

"Come near my cousin again, and I'll make sure you'll never be able to impress her, or any other girl, ever again." He threatened. Before they could respond a voice rang out in the hall.

"Alright, move along boys, you'll be late for your next class." A pause, then, "Is there a problem, gentlemen?"

"No, Mr. Sarutobi, no problem." Neji said coolly.

"He just threatened us, Sir." Ukon said quickly. Asuma looked at Neji sharply.

"Neji?"

"I just told them to stop harassing my cousin, Hinata, Sir. This wasn't the first time I caught them cornering her."

"Boys?"

"We were talking, nothing more." Sakon assured the teacher.

"Well, I don't know exactly what's going on here, and I wont unless Hinata herself comes forward. But if I get wind that something like this happens again I'll make sure you all are suspended at the very least. That goes for you too, Neji, I don't care if you are just trying to protect her, threats are not the way to handle things. Understood?" Asuma said sternly. They all mumbled and nodded in agreement. "Good, now get to class."

As the teacher walked off, Neji noticed the icy stares the three Snakes were giving Asuma's retreating back. It sent shivers down his spine.

The next day the entire school was a buzz. By now, everyone had at least heard about the new student. What made it even bigger news was that he was a transfer student who was not a military kid. This made him a rarity due to the fact that Konaho was the city military families moved to on account of there was a base about 50-60 miles north of it. It wasn't unlike the Quantico area in Virginia.

"Did you guys hear about that new kid, Sai?" Hana asked her friends, Tenten, Temari and Hinata. They both nodded their heads as they ate their lunch.

"He's kind of strange." Temari said. Blunt as usual, Temari was a pretty 18 year old senior who kept her curly blonde hair in four bundles at the back of her her head. She wore short dresses with ¾ sleeves, tight booty shorts underneath, and high top sneakers with no stockings. She had that, 'I'm sexy and tough and I know it' attitude about her.

"How can you say that with out knowing him?" Hinata asked quietly. She was the exact opposite of Temari. She was probably hotter than any other girl in the school, even Sakura and Kerin the two sluts. But no one could really see that because, unless you caught her in the school pool doing laps, you only saw her in baggy jeans, sweatshirts, and sneakers. She never wore make up, jewelry unless you count the necklace her mother had given her before she passed away, and she hid her face behind long bangs. She had worn her hair in a cute pixie cut in middle school, but ever since she started catching the eye of every guy she passed, she grew it out and started hiding herself. She had always been soft spoken and shy, but lately it seemed to have been getting worse. She still hung out with Hana, Tenten and Temari, but she rarely spoke these days. This was true even with her boyfriend, Naruto.

"I heard it through the grape vine." Temari replied.

"Oh, I love that song." Exclaimed a voice behind them. They turned around and saw Tayuya, Kin, Kerin, Ino, Sakura and Konan come up. Tayuya started singing the chorus to the song, doing a little dance to the music playing in her head. Konan shook her head in exasperation.

"Well, look who we have here." Tenten said. "What are the princesses of Konaho High doing talking to mere peasants like us?"

"Don't get your hopes up Number Girl." Sakura smirked, calling Tenten her 'label' name. "Some of us just had something to say to one of you."

Hana, Temari, Hinata and Tenten exchanged looks over their lunch table as Tayuya, Kin and Kerin stepped up.

"We heard what the twins and Suigetsu did yesterday, Hinata, we wanted to make sure you were okay." Kin said. She had her black straight hair tied tightly in a pony tail, her marine tank top just barely touching her hip hugger jeans. She was holding the strap to her bag that was slung across her body, showing off a thick brown wrist band. Temari, Hana and Tenten couldn't understand why this bad ass girl hung with the preps. She seemed, to them, like a girl who would fall in their crowd. But, no matter who she hung with she seemed nice enough, nicer than that bitch Sakura anyways.

"Oh, umm…I'm…" Hinata whispered, her face burning as she looked down at the floor.

"We wanted you to know that they have been spoken too, and won't bother you any more." Kerin said assuringly.

"Yeah, don't worry, your sisters got your back." Tayuya said smiling at Hinata. Hana, Temari and Tenten looked at each other. _Sisters_? No matter how mute the cast system in the school was, one thing remained adamant, the preps NEVER did nice things for the outcasts like them.

"Umm…thank you." Hinata said quietly, not looking at the others. The three girls nodded and, feeling that their obligation was done, walked away with the rest of their group.

"Hinata?" Hana asked curiously. Hinata however had grabbed her bag and had swung it on her shoulder, ignoring the rest of her lunch.

"I have to go, gonna be late for class." She said hurriedly and ran off. Tenten turned to Temari.

"The bell's not going to ring for another ten minutes." She said. "Unless my watch is busted."

Hana took her cell out to double check the time. "Nope, you were right."

"So what's she hiding?" Temari asked.

"Beats me." Tenten said, shrugging.

"So what's your read on this new guy?" Kin asked Konan as they headed to their geology class.

"He was in my advanced Art class with Diedara and Sasori." Konan said, her blue hair dancing behind her as she walked. She wore designer jeans, a mesh under shirt and a short dark blue sweater that stopped at her navel. Her thick healed sandals clacked against the hard floor. "He's quiet, more quiet then the Hyuga girl. He draws, sketches, no color. That in itself tells a lot about his personality. He's incredibly detailed, but his work is dark. I took a sneak peak at his sketchbook when he went up to get some pencils from Ms. Rin. I doubt any one, except maybe Hidan, has a messed up mind like that."

Kin flintched. "Deep."

They walked in to room 409 and was greeted by their teacher Mr. Kakashi Hatake.

"Morning, ladies. You're looking nice today."

They both cringed slightly but if he saw this he didn't comment. Truth be told, out of all the perverts in the school, Kakashi was the least threatening. He just made slight off handed comments that, come to think of it, probably didn't mean much seeing as how he was dating Rin the Art and Health teacher.

As they took their seats he began roll call, everyone was there except, to their surprise, Sai, the new kid. That was weird, this was only his second day of school, where was he?

Sasuke Uchiha sat in his Calculus class waiting for the teacher to arrive. He drummed his pencil on his desk glaring out the window. His brother sat two seats to his right and he could feel the older boy's eyes on him. He refused to look at him though. Last night his father had made a beeline for him and Itachi, as usal, intervened. Now, Itachi had a busted lip and bruised eye that was covered up with make up. But the sudden banishment of his brother's wounds did not help Sasuke forget his father's anger at him, or his own guilt. If anything, it just made it more apparent to him.

He had gone home with the results of his last Calculus test and when his father saw the giant A- he flipped. Sasuke had felt rather proud of himself, missing only one or two questions. But his father, a drunk ex-cop who had been removed from the force early after a perp shot him in the gut, expected nothing but 100% from both of his sons. If they fell short just by a single point, he went off like a cannon. Sasuke was, irrationally, furious with Asuma for giving him an A-. Why couldn't he have just over looked the minor errors and given him a damn 100? Now, because of it, his brother had been forced to save his sorry, worthless ass once again. Of course, if it hadn't been him last night, then his mother would've undoubtedly been the target and Itachi would've still been forced to intervene. Itachi felt that, being the eldest, it was his responsibility to shield his brother and mother from his father's violent tantrums. But that didn't sit right with Sasuke and he felt a nasty twinge of guilt every time he thought about it.

Five minutes went by, then ten. Finally, when fifteen minutes had passed, Sasuke couldn't stand it anymore. _Where the hell was he?_ He looked over at his brother who was talking quietly to his boyfriend, Kisame.

Kisame, a strange boy who had a weird obsession with sharks was looking worried. His eyes, covered by yellow contacts were narrow and he kept running his hands through his short black spiky hair that had died blue highlights. He was pale and he wore baggy jeans, a grey t-shirt under a jean vest that matched his pants and cut off gloves that had an open gash on the backs. One knee jumped rapidly in the air, his grey sneaker folded at the toe line on the floor.

Sasuke leaned over, passed Choji Akimichi who was sneaking chips into his chubby face every few minutes or so, to tap his brother on the shoulder.

Itachi, who's long black hair was tied back in a low ponytail and who looked weary turned around. "What?" he asked in a low tone.

"Where's Mr. Sarutobi?" Sasuke asked. "Shouldn't he be here by now?"

"We were just thinking of going to check to see if anyone's seen him." Kisame hissed at Sasuke. Although Sasuke was a member of the Snakes and the other two were Akatsuki, Kisame got on relatively well with him because he was Itachi's little brother.

"Should I go? I'm the only one of us who hasn't gotten into trouble this year, they wont suspect me as much." Sasuke said, wanting to get out of the class room that was, he realized, starting to close in on him. What was wrong with him? Was this because of his guilt? Or was it because of the fact that he couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong?

Itachi looked at his younger brother of two years with a level stare. "Alright." He said.

Sasuke got up and immediately ran out of the room. Not a full minute later he ran into a teacher, Mr. Ibiki, the history teacher. The tall muscular man halted Sasuke and asked him what he was doing out of class. Sasuke had the instinct to ask Ibiki the same thing but decided not to start trouble.

"I'm looking for Mr. Sarutobi, he hasn't shown up for class yet."

"What? That doesn't sound like Asuma." Ibiki said, his face wrinkled in worry. He rubbed the back of his bald head and thought for a moment. "Come on kid, let's check the teacher's lounge."

But Asuma wasn't in the teacher's lounge. They checked the front office but he wasn't there either. Now Ibiki was getting really worried, he had just seen Asuma that morning, and before lunch, he was fine, he was happy. He had been going on about how he couldn't wait for the wedding that was to be on Saturday, less than three days away. He had invited Ibiki to the bachelor's party on Friday, starting immediately after school let out. He went into Tsunade's office and asked her to call him to the office over the intercom speakers. They waited there, Sasuke feeling a little out of place, for a full ten minutes before Tsunade called Shizune in.

"Yes, Ma'am?"

"Shizune, when was the last time you saw Asuma?" Tsunade asked her sharply.

"Umm…he was going to his class room with a young man, I believe his name is Shikamaru, during lunch. I think he needed to to discuss the boy's homework with him." Shizune said nervously. "I happened to run into them in the hall and they were joking around, every thing seemed okay."

Tsunade took action and called Shikamaru to her office. A few more minutes passed and then a tall boy with a high ponytail slandered into the room, hands in pockets of cargo pants, a green t-shirt under an unzipped dark grey hoody half off of one shoulder, and a bored expression on his face.

"What'd I do this time?" he cracked.

"When was the last time you saw Mr. Sarutobi?" Tsunade asked without preamble. Sasuke studied the boy's face as it registered shock.

"Asuma, I mean, Mr. Sarutobi and I played a game of chess during lunch while he talked to me about my homework. I only did half the problems again and he was explaining to me that if I kept doing that, I would only get half credit for the work. He said that I could get all 100's on the tests but if I kept getting 50's or lower on my other work it would cause me to fail the class. He said he wanted to try and save my lazy ass before it got too late into the school year, but that he had seen enough to spot a pattern in my work, or rather, lack there of."

Tsunade nodded thoughtfully. "Did you see him any time after that?"

"No. I saw that new kid, Gay or Say or whatever his name is go in when I was leaving to get my stuff for my chemistry class, about ten minutes before lunch got out, but I don't know what they talked about." He said now looking around the room at Shizune, Ibiki and Sasuke all staring at him. "Why, why are you asking me all this? What's happened?" fear was creeping into his voice and now his hands were out of his pockets, he was standing a little straighter and his face was turning from shock to pale worry.

"He didn't show up for class today." Sasuke explained as the bell signaling the end of the period rang. They could all hear the kids in the hall shift from one class to the next.

"You mean…" Shikamaru's voice was getting thicker now, fear constricting his speech. "You mean he's missing?"

"We can't seem to find him." Dr. Tsunade said softly. Just then high screams rang out from outside. They all bolted out of the room, Tsunade in the lead.

As they reached the knot of students, dressed in gym uniforms, huddled around a bush by the running track, Mr. Gai ran up to them.

"Dr. Tsunade!" He called out. "You better come and look at this."

The principle walked sternly up to the bush, weary about what she would find there. Gai kept Sasuke and Shikamaru back grimly telling them and the other two adults that they don't want to go over there. His usually energetic face was full of morbid horror and grief.

"Gai! Get everyone inside now! Shizune call the cops!" Tsunade's voice rang out.

Suddenly Shikamaru couldn't take it any longer. He pushed by the gym teacher, ignoring his order to come back. He ran up next to Tsunade who quickly grabbed him and shoved him back from the bush, but not before he saw the body of one of his father's best friends and the greatest mentor he'd ever known. Asuma Sarutobi's body was mangled, bloody, broken. It had been tossed aside like trash, his eyes were wide with horror and pain and his mouth was open in an unfinished scream, blood pouring out of it. But that wasn't the worst of it. The head was severed, lying next to the body, the limbs were bound, and he was in nothing but his slacks and socks. The words PERVERTED BASTARDS WILL DIE was painted on his chest in his own blood. Shikamaru felt the world spin all around him. Someone was saying his name, asking if he was alright but he couldn't respond. He felt his strength leave him and he was falling, falling into nothingness as he heard his own voice call out Asuma's name.

Okay sorry…I think that was a tad graphic ^^' and before you go off on me…remember he does die in the anime…I think…from what I was told…to be honest…I haven't seen all of Shupiden…And I'm taking a guess at a lot of these guys personalities….but it's not too bad…is it?

Itachi: why am _I_ the one that gets hit here?

Me: because you're the honorable older brother who is loveable and awesome and brave

Itachi: …fangirl

Me: I AM NOT! I'm too mature for you… I go for other guys thank you.

Itachi: who?

Me: *looks over at Rock Lee blushing*

Naruto: BUSHY BROWS!?

Lee: YES! I HAVE A FANGIRL! AT LAST!

Gai: *tears streaming down his face* LEE! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!

Me: *face palms* okay embarrassing…next chapter….now


	3. Chapter 3

Me: Okay, now for Ch. 3! This is coming along great!

Tobi: Umm…crazed Fangirl-Sama?

Me: Yes Tobi?

Tobi: Tobi didn't get to talk in the last chapter.

Me: That's right Tobi, you didn't

Tobi: But…why? Tobi is a good boy!

Me: Because Tobi is an annoying boy

Toby: *tear dripping from peep hole in mask* Tobi's sorry crazed fangirl-sama!

Me: *grinning* I accept your apology Tobi now be quiet…any one up for a disclaimer?

Lee: I will! Ghostwritter9396, the greatest naruto fangirl ever, does not own naruto or any of its affiliations!

Me: uh….thanks Lee…

Sakura: *rousing from fight earlier* What happened?

Me: *laughing* nothing you need to worry about we're just getting on with the next chapter

Sakura: But…I didn't see what happened in the last one

Me: That's because I knocked your sorry ass out princess…now as I said we are going forward with the story so shut your fat face and enjoy!

High School Is Murder

By: Ghostwritter9396

Ch. 3

Kurenai Yuhi sat at her desk gowing over last night's homework while her class worked on their first semester projects. She heard Shino and Zetzu arguing, Kidomaru telling them both to stuff it, and she was getting annoyed. She was about to go over there and tell all three boys to stop talking and get back to work, and move to other seats if they couldn't stand working by each other, when her class room door opened. She looked up and was surprised to see the geometry teacher, Anko, come in.

"Anko, what can I do for-" Kurenai cut herself off when she saw the look on Anko's face. It was not constructed in it's usual confident grin, but crumpled into pain. "What's wrong?" she asked, her tone now earnest and low. It didn't matter, the whole class went silent, the three boys quenching their arguments to hear what was going on.

"Can…you step outside for a moment, Kurenai?" Anko asked. Kurenai, confused, turned to her students and told them to continue working as she followed Anko out of the class room. The door was shut, but even still, Ino could hear Kurenai's shouts of grief and pain.

"NO!"

She collapsed right there in the hall way and Anko had to take her to the nurse who was an elderly women by the name of Chiyo. Unfortunately, Chiyo was in the middle of a much needed nap and had her student assistant, Sakura, handle any complants.

Sakura rushed forward and helped Anko lead a weak kneed Kurenai who was still crying over to a cot in the far back. They laid her down, gave her some water and drew the curtains around her. Sakura looked questioningly at Anko who just said that the teacher had just gone through shock and needed to get some rest to recover.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine." She assured the concerned pink haired girl. "I'm not to sure about Chiyo, though." She added with a small smile. "That women better start thinking of retirement, she's been the nurse here ever since this place opened up over thirty-five years ago, before my time even."

"I think she'll be okay." Sakure said smiling. "She just really tired these days, ya know."

"Hey, did you see the cops?"

"Yeah, what are they doing here? One of the Snakes or Akatsuki finally caught doing drugs or something?"

"No, I heard it was a murder."

"Who?"

"One of the teachers, I think it was Ebisu."

"No, I heard that it was Gai."

"Can't have been! I just saw him ten minutes ago hearding students in to the school!"

"I heard it was Ms. Yuhi."

"No, but she's definitely sick or something, she's in the nurse's office with the drapes around her, she's not seeing anyone."

The whole school was talking. No one knew what really was going on, just that there had been a possible murder, in the middle of the day nonetheless, the cops were here investigating and asking random students random questions, and the teachers were trying to keep everything going on as normal as possible.

"Shikamaru, are you okay now?" Dr. Tsunade asked gently as the 17 year old boy recovered in her office. "I'm so sorry you saw that, I know it was a shock."

He sat up off her sofa, looking over at her desk, seeing to unknown men seating across from her, looking intently at him.

"Uh…hi?" he said a little uncertainly. Then he turned to his principal. "Is he…I didn't…that wasn't…." he was finding it hard to speak, not least of all because he didn't know what to say. Finally he stated in a flat toneless voice, "Asuma's really gone, isn't he?"

"Shikamaru, these gentlemen are detective, Sargent Izumo Kamizuki and his partner Detective Kotetsu Hagane. They have some questions for you if you're up to it. But if you need time, I'll send them to pester somebody else for a while." Tsunade explained calmly.

It wasn't till that point that Shikamaru realized that all he really wanted was to go home. "Can I call my dad?" he asked.

"It's already been taken care of and he's on his way." She said. He nodded taking in some deep breaths, trying to control his nerves. He felt tears start to roll down his face as the image of his teacher's mangled body came back to him.

The first detective, Kamizuki, leaned forward and stared intently at Shikamaru through one kind, visible, eye, the other one hidden behind long brown bangs.

"We understand this is hard for you, son. Can you tell us how close you were with Asuma Sarutobi?"

Shikamaru stared at this guy. He reminded him of those cops you saw on TV, only he wore a white t under a back jacket with the sleeves pushed up and jeans instead of a suit. His partner was dressed in more business clothes but it still was more casual than a full suit.

"He was more of a godfather to me then my real one is. He spent time with ever since I was a little kid. My dad didn't know him when I was born, they met through work, my dad's a part time repair man when he's not minding the library on the corner of 5th and 7th. They became friends, growing stronger each year. He taught me how to paly chess, how to throw a ball, we could talk about stuff. You know, deep philosophical stuff, we would sit on my front porch for hours just playing chess and talking." Suddenly he felt his throught constrict, a lump rising up preventing him from continuing, but he pushed through it. "I was really excited when I got him for my Calculus teacher this year, even though I have a bad habbit of not doing my work. We played a game of chess today as he tried to get me to understand that he wouldn't be able to pass me if I didn't start doing all of my work. I told him I would start trying to do better…I guess it doesn't matter now." The tears fell more earnestly and now the lump had risen so high that he knew he wouldn't be able to speak through it any longer. He bent his head down, his shoulders shaking.

"Alright, son, it'll be alright." The detective said gently. His partner, Hagane, reached over and him a tissue from Tsunade's desk.

"We just have one more question, Shikamaru, and I'm afraid it wont be easy to hear or answer." He said as Shikamaru took the tissue and rubbed it under his nose, ignoring the tears as they continued to fall down his cheeks and onto his knees. He looked up to stare at the detective to show that he was listening. Kotetsu Hagane cringed inwardly, he always hated asking these kind of questions when the victims looked so pitiful and hopeless.

"Did Mr. Sarutobi ever engage in any inappropriate behavior with you?" he forced out in a professional manner he'd mastered over the years of being apart of law enforcement.

Shikamaru looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, did he ever do anything that made you feel…uncomfortable? Put his hand-" Kamizuki started but Shikamaru, getting his meaning, suddenly looked murderous.

"Never." He said flatly through gritted teeth. "Asuma Sarutobi was not that kind of man, he was honorable, trustworthy, supportive and loving. And not in the sick way you're thinking either." He shot out before he could be misinterpreted. He turned to Tsunade. "Dr. Tsunade, tell them."

Tsunade nodded her head. "Same thing I told you gentlemen, Asuma never, nor would ever, raise his hand improperly in any way to any child. He would have found the act despicable and nauseating."

"We had to hear it from the kid's mouth." Hagane said quietly.

"Understandable." Tsunade answered him.

"Who told you…who's been saying…" Shikamaru was spluttering again, unable to get the words out.

"Who ever killed him." Kamizuki said. "The message seemed clear enough."

Shikamaru was about to retort but just then the door opened and his father walked in. "Dad." He croaked out and stood up, going to his father, a fresh wave of tears falling down his face as he went into his father's arms. "He's dead, Asuma's gone, dad, he's gone."

"Sshh, I know son, it's okay."

The next two days went by in a blur, kids were being dragged out of their class rooms, mainly boys, to be questioned by the police, the two gangs were careful not to cross one another and staying closely together, you never saw a single member stray off by themselves anymore. No doubt the two leaders, Orochimaru and Pein, undoubtedly ordered their members not to go anywere alone in case it looked suspicious. They were certain none of their gang had gone rouge and committed murdered, but seeing as how they weren't exactly study clubs, they thought they'd be safer to cover their asses.

"This is awful." Sasori said as he and Orochimaru headed to English. He put his head on his boyfriend's shoulder as they walked, Orochimaru's arm around his neck.

"I don't see why people are so upset." Hidan said as he trailed behind them. "I mean, did you see how he was killed? A master piece, true art." He cackled madly.

"How do you know?" Orochimaru asked, interested.

"The maniac was in gym when they found his body." Sasori explained, turning his head to glare at Hidan. "Don't you dare compare that brutality with art, you sick bastard."

"Hey, I'm just stating the truth, man. Jashin would be honored to have such an offering…you think it's too late to set him up as a sacrifice?"

Sasori felt his stomach turn. This kid could really be sick sometimes.

"I wonder what would happen to the body after they're done with autopsy." Said Orochimaru thoughtfully. "Do you think they'll donate it to science?"

Sasori removed Orochimaru's arm and glared at him. "That's sick, Oro, really twisted. That's our teacher for God sakes." He turned to Hidan. "And if you say one more damn thing about that fake god of yours, I'll put your head through my locker door."

"You're so sensitive, Sasori." Orochimaru said smiling at him with that creepy smile he always wore.

"No, I'm respectful, which is a hell of a lot more than you two can say." He turned a marched into their class room, ignoring Iruka's greeting and taking a seet in the back of the class by the window.

"Hana, are you gonna come or not?" Tenten called at the end of school that day.

"And sit around odd man out while the rest of you cuddle with your boys?" Hana asked good naturedly. "No thanks."

"You wont be odd man out." Temari told her. "My brothers are going and so is yours."

"Kiba isn't single, remember? He's going out with Shino." Hana said but started walking after her friends any ways. All of them were heading to a nearby restaurant in honor of Asuma Sarutobi's memory. They were all going to be there, the preps, the outcasts, the Snakes, the Akatsuki. A temporary truth seemed to have been made in light of the tragedy.

When they arrived they saw that their reserved table was already half filled. Sakura sat next to her boyfriend Sasuke, the two of them across from Karin and her latest squeeze Kimimaro. Dosu, Sukon, Ukon, Suigetsu, Jirobo, Jugo and Kabuto were all huddled next to Kimimaro and Sasuke, making a kind of 'block' of Snakes. Orochimaro sat on the other side of Sasuke, his second and command, across from Sasori who was the first of the Akatsuki members that had already arrived; Itachi, Kisame, Zetsu, Deidara, Hidan and Kakuzu. They had seats reserved for Pein, Tobi and Konan. Out of the other preps, Tayuya and her boyfriend Kidomaru, Kin and her boy Zaku, and Ino who, although wasn't dating him, sait with Choji. Shikamaru, Choji's best friend, was on Choji's other side. This was a shock due to the fact that he hadn't been seen at school since the day they had found Asuma in the bushes. Temari walked over to her boyfriend who immediately stood up and took her into his arms, looking as if he had aged a decade in the last two days. He held her tightly for a long minute before she pushed away, gently kissed him, and helped him sit down again before claiming her seat. Naruto and Hinata sat across from Choji and Shikamaru and next to them were Kiba and Shino. Hana went to sit on her brother's other side. She sat between him and Temari's brother Kankuro. Across from her was their younger brother Gaara. Rock Lee, the goofy jock but greatest football player in two centuries, sat on Gaara's other side. Hana wondered how many more people were coming. She knew they were waiting on the three Akatsuki members, but who else.

"Where's Neji?" Tenten asked.

"He'll be along soon." Said Lee. "He had to answer a few questions from those detectives."

"They need to go back and check the name of the guy who died, they obviously have him mixed up with someone else." Came Deidara's voice. Not all of them had been in his Calculus class, but Asuma had moved around the entire math department and so, at one point or another, they all had had him at least once. Some of the seniors had had him at least twice. "The questions they ask are far out there. Zetsu not even your weed would cause them to go that far out." He cracked.

"Hey, my pot's the best, it takes you for a real ride." Zetsu shot back, but then softened. "You're probably right though, no amount of grass could get me to believe Sarutobi did what they're suggesting."

"What are they suggesting?" asked Temari.

"I heard them talking to Dr. Tsunade." Sakura piped up. "Apparently they think he was involved with some of the boys in school."

"That's a bunch of shit."

It was a mere whisper, but so cold and sharp that when Shikamaru said it no one dared contradict him.

"Of course it is." Choji said, munching on chips the server had brought to the table. "I knew him almost as well as you did, Shikamaru, and I can't see him doing any of that."

Just then, Pein, Konan, Tobi and Neji came up and took their seats around the table. Neji squeezing Hinata's shoulder as he passed her, sat next to Tenten, bending over and kissing the top of her head in greating and comfort.

"Is this all of us?" Ino asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Naruto said quietly.

Around the table 37 glasses rose in the air and voices low and reverent mutter Asuma Sarutobi's name. They all took turns, going around the table in order, giving a small toast to Asuma. Most of them being funny stories of how they had forgotten homework or a joke he had given in class. All of them however said how better they were for knowing him and how he would be missed. When they were done giving toasts they all raised their glasses once more saying his name. Then they ordered dinner, laughed and joked around with each other as if they all had been the best of friends for years, which they kind of had been despite the two gangs wanting to kill each other.

The story of how they had come around was kind of pathetic. It had started out with Pein and Orochimaru making up the name Akatsuki in their freshman year. By the time they were in their sophomore year, however, the gang had grown in size and Pein and Orochimaru where fighting constantly about little details like who was the leader and if Orochimaru had tried to get with Konan against her will. Eventually things got real out of control and Orochimaru and those who were more loyal to him broke into a separate group. Now, both Pein and Orochimaru were seniors along with Itachi, Kisame, Jirobo, Kabuto, and Kimimaru. People talked a lot of why they were constantly hated each other and everyone said it was because Konan had stuck to her story of near rape. But because nothing could be proven it was just her word against Orochimaru's. Pein however believed his girlfriend and had ordered his gang not to get involved in any way with the Snakes. The only reason he couldn't object to Sasori was because, even though Sasori remained loyal to Pein, he had been with Orochimaru prier to the split; yet another reason why Konan's story was questionable.

By the time the whole group was ready to leave their was a mixture of emotions in the air. Most of the girls were in tears, along with Shikamaru though he wasn't as dramatic about it. Their boyfriends all had their arms around them, giving them short kisses and reassurances that things would be okay. Hana and Kankuro, who had started talking over dinner, were now holding hands as silent tears threatened to over flow Hana's brown eyes. None of them really wanted to leave, but they all new it was getting late. They had been at the restaurant over five hours just sitting, talking and drinking sodas. Now, those who weren't crying about the tragedy, were either laughing to chase their own greif away, like Naruto and Kiba, or were starting to get angry like Orochimaru and Sasori. This last pair was starting to cause some trouble. After a heated argument that had some how remained private between them, they turned away from each other, Sasori pointingly starting a conversation with Zetsu and Hidan, and Orochimaru striking up a semi flirtatious conversation with Sakura and Sasuke. Hana looked over at the latter and gave an involuntary shutter, not unnoticed by Kankuro who asked if she was alright. She nodded her head in Orochimaru's direction.

"You know that movie, Rocky Horror Picture Show?" she asked. A twisted smile came to to his face.

"I've heard of it." He said lightly, his brown eyes saying that he hasn't just heard of it. _It's probably a favorite of his_, thought Hana.

"He would be that Transvestite vampire dude."

Kankuro laughed out loud. "Yeah, you're probably right." He said. "He is creepy enough."

A few drinks later they all rose, each chipping in for the bill which nearly gave Kakuzu a heart attack. Hidan calmed him down by chipping in for both of them.

They left the restaurant and as they walked they slowly divided up into various couples and siblings (cousins in the Hyuga's case).

As Naruto, Gaara, Temari and Kankuro headed down their street to the little flat that Temari had managed to save up for in her last five years of school, they talked about Asuma's murder and who could've done it. It wasn't until Naruto said that it had to have been Hidan given the sadistic nature of the crime when Gaara suggested the one name that hadn't popped up in any discussion yet.

"What about that new kid, Sai?"

Me: *staring at Izuma and Kotetsu trying to decide which one is sexier*

Izuma: *sensing fangirl trouble grabs Kotetsu pointing* mine…

Me: *sighs heavily* That's why I can't find a guy in Naruto to drool over…most of them are fucking gay!

Kotetsu: What's wrong with that?

Me: *sighing then grinning evilly* Oh nothing *raises camera threateningly* I can still get amusement

Izuma and Kotetsu: *look at each other then run for it*

Me: *to readers* enjoy the next chapter make sure you R&R! Now if you excuse me I have some seriously hot yaoi to record *runs after boys camera raised grinning manically*

Orochimaru: You know you shouldn't spread lies about your potential enemies…..

Me: Yeah? And you shouldn't threaten someone who can make you do the electic slide….

Orochimaru: *horror struck* you wouldn't

Me: *types on keyboard*

Orochimaru: *starts dancing the electric slide* you bitch

Me: HAH! That'll teach you to scare an innocent 12 year old!

Orochimaru: WHAT?

Me: I was twelve when I saw you fight with Naruto and them in the big scary forest! You made me have nightmares of giant snakes meany!

Orochimaru: I DIDN'T FORCE YOU TO WATCH YOU CRZY BITCH!

Me: No, but my magic talking zucchini did and you know what it's telling me now?

Orochimaru: *still dancing the electric slide* what?

Me: To get on with the next chapter and hypnotize all my readers to R&R because they love my story that MUCH!


	4. Chapter 4

Okay, appology time. I was double checking spelling and evything and I noticed a few names were misspelled in the last chapters...sorry...but hopefully everything is good now...even if the story isn't...

Me: Is it just me or this story dragging a little?

Pein: I don't get it….why are they still questioning students? Why don't we have the autopsy report yet?

Sasori: why did you draw attention to my love life?

Me: because despite this being a badly written mystery it's also a badly written drama with romance and confliction and what ever else is defined by the word 'drama' now would any one care for a disclaimer?

Kabuto: this pathetic writer who had no life does not own anything you're reading *pushes glasses up smirking* I doubt she even owns the idea for the terrible plot

Me: *glares daggers at Kabuto* you're soooooooo lucky you're hot *cracks evil grin* unfortunately you're not hot enough to be in a descent yaoi flick seeing as how the only logical mate for you Orochimaru who scares and grosses me out so *raises fists and koncks him out* your life is spared but not your consciousness *smiles wide kitty smile*

Kimimaro and Jugo: *carry Kabuto's limp body away*

Kiba: *shocked face eyes going from writer to readers* Ooookayyy then *gins akwardly* ON WITH THE SHOW!

High School Is Murder

By: Ghostwritter9396

Ch. 4

"So, you two are having a lover's spat, un?" Deidara joked on Monday.

The weekend hadn't been fun. Pein had called a meeting on Saturday, as did Orochimaru. Both questioned their respected gangs, talking to each boy separately. The two gangs were at different hide outs of course, but the fact that both leaders were thinking along the same lines were kind of funny to an outsider. Each leader was worried about a particular member in their crowd and they made sure to question them first.

Pein stared Hidan down who, despite his sadistic nature, was looking side to side nervously. "I didn't do it, man, honest."

"I need to know if you did, Hidan, so I can help you out. Did you finally upgrade from animals to humans for those damn rituals of yours?"

"Fuck no, man! If I had, the dude would've been lying on his ass spread eagle in a blood symbol…you know that circle with the triangle, like this." He held up the circular pendant he wore around his neck on a silver chain. "And he sure as hell wouldn't of been half nude!"

Orochimaru was smiling that damn grin of his over at Jugo. Sasuke stood behind him. For reasons unknown, Sasuke was the only one who could keep Jugo in check. The guy had serious anger issues and on his bad days, you just look at him the wrong way and he'll go off. He had been arrested three times in the last two years alone and was undergoing court ordered anger management. It helped some but there wasn't that much of a difference.

"Why did you kill the teacher?" Orochimaru asked, his long black hair falling lazily in his face, his green eyes standing out against his pale skin thanks to his ever present purple eye liner. His tight dark purple turtle neck almost looked like a full body bruise rather than a shirt.

"I didn't." Jugo said tightly, his gentle features scrunched up in an effort to keep his temper under control. "I don't know who killed Sarutobi but it wasn't me, alright?"

"I'm not sure, where were you?"

"I was in gym, trying to ignore that little Hidan brat talking about the body as if it was a masterpiece; I might get pissed at times but I don't enjoy any of it, not like that psycho."

"I believe him, Orochimaru. From the sounds of things, we should be suspecting Hidan." Sasuke said coolly.

And that was when the two teams decided that in order to save themselves they'd have to prove a member from the opposition was the murderer.

Another event that had taken place over the weekend was Orochimaru getting caught with Sakura Haruno, Sasuke's girlfriend, underneath him, her legs wrapped tightly around him in the park on Sunday, the two of them going at it hard. Neither Sasuke nor Sasori took this news lightly.

"Dei, we're through." He now said roughly.

"We, un? What did I do to piss you off, un?"

"No, not you and me, I mean me and Orochimaru!" snapped Sasori but felt the corners of his mouth tug upwards slightly nonetheless. He felt them just as quickly fall back down as he thought of Orochimaru's explanations that morning when Sasori had confronted him, demanding the truth. His justifications of how he was just seeing if he really was gay. Sasori felt like punching him. "Let me clear things up for you, you're not, not with me any ways." He shot out flatly, then walked away.

Now he and Deidara were in the back of their art class, Deidara molding a new sculpture and Sasori feebly trying to fit pieces of wood together with no clue as to what he was really doing.

"Sasori, cheer up, un. Why were you even with the bastard, un?"

Sasori sighed, truth be told he didn't even know any more. He remembered seeing Orochimaru, a sophomore, and thought his eyes were pretty, green with flex of yellow, like gold, in them. He also liked his smile, albeit creepy, he thought it was also mysterious and he wanted to know what kind of secrets the tall pale boy could possibly be hiding. Turns out not much except a scary sex crave.

"I haven't got the slightest idea." He sighed, deciding not to tell Deidara any of this. Changing the subject he looked over and grinned mischievously at his best friend.

"So how's the new brat?"

"Annoying as hell, un!" was the reply. "She's crying all the time and mom just shuts her up with a bottle or pacifier, un. And now that mom is on mandatory bed rest to recover un, there was some slight complications but nothing serious un, I have to be on fucking baby duty un half the damn weekend!"

Sasori gave a soft chuckle. Deidara's long blonde hair was in a full ponytail today, not its usual half, though he still kept his left eye covered with his long bangs. Sasori had often wondered what the boy's full face looked like. His visible blue eye was narrowed in concentration as his skilled hands worked the clay in front of him, molding it into a shape and using sharp metal tools to carve soft details.

Just then the class room door opened and Rin looked up from her desk, seeing Vice Principle Shizune poking her head in. "Yes?"

"I need to see Sasori and Sai."

Ms. Rin nodded at the two boys and, rolling his eyes at Deidara in a dramatic 'here we go' jester that caused the blonde to giggle under his breath, Sasori gathered his bag and went out into the hall with the strange new kid.

As they followed Shizune back to the principal's office, Sasori glanced Sai over.

He wasn't tall like Pein or Kisame, maybe closer to Tobi's height, 5.6 or 7 maybe. His black bangs that came just passed his eyes were divided on the left side, his pale skin looking paler then it was against his black graphic t-shirt that featured a close up of an out line of some multi colored face that looked digitalized. His dark eyes looked weary as they walked and they never shifted to Sasori, they just stared straight ahead of him.

When they entered the office they saw the two detectives, Tsunade, Hidan, Orochimaru, and Jugo waiting.

"Big enough, crowd?" Sasori asked, his face expressionless as usual.

"We just have a few questions." One of the detectives, Sargent Kamizuki, according to the badge hung on a cord around his neck. His partner, Detive Hagane, flipped in his notebook to a clean page, taking down names.

"We have to ask you boys about your teacher, Asuma Sarutobi." He said, pen held at the ready. "Have any of you been in a recent confrontation with him?"

"He pissed me off in class, but that wasn't anything new." Hidan said quickly.

They all looked at him as Sasori groaned to himself, begging whatever God was looking after this psychotic bastard would give him the sense to keep his fucking mouth shut. It was in vein, maybe because he hadn't given any bloody offerings to it.

"I just want you to know that I'm cooperative and all, and know that where I might seem mad at times, mad in the crazy way, I'm no fucking ass killer."

"Same goes for me." Jugo said tightly. "I didn't do this either."

The detectives looked at each other uncomfortably. They didn't want to start pointing fingers yet, not when the investigation just got started. Sasori went up to Hidan and Orochumaru stood by Jugo, leaving Sai in the 'no man's zone' between them.

"They were both in gym when it happened." Orochimaru said quietly.

"Jugo was five minutes late though." Hidan said pointingly.

"I was in the fucking nurse's office getting an Advil for my damn head ache that little brat of yours caused in History!" snarled Jugo.

"Yeah, Tobi can do that to you." Sasori muttered sympathetically.

"Besides," Jugo continued as if Sasori hadn't spoken. "Hidan was the one idolizing the murder scene."

"I didn't do it!" protested Hidan heatidly.

"Doesn't look like that from here." Snarled Jugo and before anyone knew what happened the two boys were in each other's face, yelling their lungs out, accusing each other of the crime. The detectives looked startled at Tsunade, about to tell the boys to calm down but then-

"Jugo! Hidan! Sit and silent!"

As if she had cracked a whip they boys blinked at her and both sat on opposite sides of the sofa. The detectives looked impressed. Then they turned to Orochimaru, Sasori and Sai.

"Did either of you have any issues with Mr. Sarutobi?" Hagane asked. Sasori and Orochimaru shook their heads, solemn expressions on their face.

"Sai, I believe you were the last one to have seen him, is that right?" Tsunade asked quietly. "Do you have something to say?"

Sai was looking at the three adults with less expression on his face than Sasori. He didn't answer at first, just stood there seeming to add them up or something, but then he slowly shook his head. "No, Ma'am, Mr. Sarutobi and I had no arguments. He welcomed me to class and on the day in question he called me to his class room at the end of lunch to see how I was managing in school so far, in the social department. He was the kindest man I've met since coming here." Sai whispered in a flat tone.

_He's a total sociopath, even more than me. There's no emotion there at all. _Hidan thought, gapping at Sai's blank face.

"I can't get it out of my mind." Sai continued. "Maybe I could've stopped it if I hadn't left for my locker. I could've seen who did it or something."

_He's guilty, but he's in such a state of shock that he's completely numb._ Sasori thought.

"ZETSU!"

Zetsu looked up from stuffing his research papers in his bag. The weird plant no one knew what he was doing with, sat in it's pot on a tray on top of his desk. All his notes were sealed in a zipped notebook when he wasn't in class and he didn't discuss his project with anyone other than Ms. Yuhi. It couldn't be too bad though because she had signed off on it and allowed him to continue. But everyone was beyond curious on why Zetsu spent half the period talking, prodding, _tickling,_ and once, singing to the damn thing.

He saw, two seconds before he was run down by, Tobi. The small sophomore practically slammed Zetsu into his desk, causing his plant to tip dangerously. He quickly reached out and grabbed it before any damage was done, and after he set it back up right, moved it immediately to the window sill, and calmed his pounding heart, he rounded on his boyfriend.

"Tobi, what the hell-!"

"HIDE ME!" Tobi wailed, scrunching his figure behind the tall junior. His messy black hair falling in his dark eyes as they darted from left to right, looking from one door to the next. The ecology class room was really two rooms made one with a door at either end.

Zetsu glared as Kidomaru laughed at the sight of Tobi hiding like a baby behind Zetsu's slightly muscular figure. Zetsu tasseled his own black hair, green streaks running through it like a spider's web, and looked down at Tobi.

"What is it?" he asked a tad annoyed. Tobi, who's round face, large eyes, and kidish personality made it difficult to believe he was a high schooler, looked up at him. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by, "There you are!"

Zetsu turned to the far left door and saw Jirobo, the fattest kid in school, even bigger than Choji. He also had the reputation of being the meanest and, despite his weight, was the strongest football player on the team. Behind him was Sasuke, Dosu and Kimimaro. Kidomaru was almost pissing his pants with laughter at the arrival of his fellow Snakes and football team mates.

"What did he do?" Zetsu asked Jirobo in an almost bored tone, but his green eyes were sharp and calculating, showing he was prepared to act in an instant if any one moved to hurt his boyfriend. Tobi was the most annoying 'thing' on the earth, but if anyone dare make him cry Zetsu would send them straight to, in Hidan's words "Jashin".

"Give it back, brat!" Jirobo said, ignoring Zetsu.

"NO!" Tobi shouted from behind Zetsu. "THIS IS MY SANDWICH!"

Zetsu was taken a back only for a second. He should have know. Jirobo was famous for bullying kids out of their lunch, especially if he was bored, you annoyed him, or happened to not like you. Unfortunately, Tobi strikes two out of three on this list; annoyance and disliked. Tobi though was not easily bullied out of something he wanted, especially food, one thing Zetsu admired about him.

"Back off, Jirobo. Go find your own lunch to wolf down." He said, swinging his bag over his shoulder. Kidomaru had walked over and joined the Snakes standing in front of them. They were the last kids left in the room and the halls were filled with traveling students and teachers, none looking into the ecology room of course.

Jirobo did not like this answer. He stepped forward, towards the part of Tobi that Zetsu wasn't able to hide from him. Zetsu immediately side stepped and found himself in the large boy's giant fist as it clutched the fron of his white t-shirt, lifting him a few inches up off the ground. Zetsu felt the tips of his converse scrapping the carpet. Jirobo had his fist pulled back when he froze. They all heard voices getting closer to the right door.

"Are you sure it's not in your locker?"

"No, I checked, I'm almost positive I left it in here when I picked you up after class."

"You really need to rethink your organization skills. Your locker looked like a cyclone had grabbed hold of it. It could be in there and you wouldn't even know it."

It was Kiba and Shino. They came in, Shino behind Kiba who was talking over his shoulder at him when they both stopped dead.

"We interrupting something fellas?" asked Shino, glaring at them through his dark sunglasses, his usual scowl on his face.

"Private conversation, boys, fraid you'll have to leave." Smirked Kimimaro as he, Dosu, Kidomaru and Sasuke blocked their path.

"Just came for my notebook." Kiba said, pointing to Shino's desk where a yellow spiral sat, waiting to be reclaimed.

"Tough." Sasuke said not turning to look at it, his hands in his pockets. Kiba glared.

"You might be the precious quarter back, Uchiha, but I'm on the team too, remember? I can go to Gai right now and gladly replace you." He growled. Sasuke's black eyes flashed dangerously. In the back ground, Jirobo still held Zetsu in mid air, Tobi pulling at his thick arm in a useless attempt to make him release his hold.

"What's going on in here?"

Hayate, the reading teacher came in glaring. He coughed slightly as his eyes flickered from Jirobo, Zetsu and Tobi, over to Dosu, Kimimaro and Kidomaru standing behind Sasuke who was practically nose to nose with Kiba in a silent stare down. Shino slipped passed everyone and snatched Kiba's notebook up. He then turned around, grabbed Kiba's wrist and yanked him around.

"We were just leaving." He said to Hayate as he rushed himself and his boyfriend out of the room.

They heard Hayate continue to talk to the remaining boys as they walked quickly down the hall. Once they figured they had walked far enough away, Shino pushed the notebook into Kiba's chest. "Here."

Kiba was furious. "If Gai knew what that little bastard was doing-"

"He wasn't doing anything. Sasuke Uchiha never does anything. He doesn't provoke, interact, or stop anything. He just stands around, enjoying the drama." Shino cut across him. He put his hand on Kiba's shoulder, the scowl on his face never wavering. "You got your book, you got out of that without a busted face, let's get to the lunch room." He leaned in and gave Kiba a gentle kiss before putting an arm around his shoulders and leading him to the cafeteria.

After school Kiba, Shino, Naruto and Choji stood out side waiting.

"So, any idea what the hell's going on with Hinata yet?" Kiba asked Naruto as they stood around, bags slung on backs and across bodies, shoulders pressed against the wall by the front door, students bustling around them laughing and horsing around. Naruto shook his head.

"Nope, I'm taking her out tonight, though. Hopefully she'll talk to me this time." He said, doubting his own words. Hinata had been slowly drifting away. He would think it was her way of telling him she wanted to break up if she hadn't been pulling away from everyone else as well. "Hey! Over here!" he called out as Tenten, Neji, Temari, Shikamaru, Gaara, Lee, Kankuro and Hana walked out of the building. They all piled up around the other four. "Where's Hinata?"

"I think she's in the pool." Neji said.

"Did she have practice today?" Hana asked.

"No, there's no practice today." Gaara said softly.

"Yeah, Gaara and I heard the twins and Suigetsu complaining about it to Tayuya and Ino a few minutes ago." Kankuro said. They all looked at each other, silently coming to the same conclusion. They turned around and went back inside the school, Naruto and Neji leading the way.

When they reached the biology class room, Naruto charged in. "Jiraiya!" he called out, causing the teacher to look up from his desk where he sat grading papers.

"Mr. Uzimaki." He said, shocked.

"School's out, cut the formalities, Pervy Sage." He said, using his affectionate nick name he had for his godfather.

"Okay, Naruto, what's wrong?" he said looking closely at the blue eyed blonde standing in jeans and an orange sweatshirt in front of him.

"Do you know where Hinata is?" Naruto asked, the others pressing in behind him to hear the answer. After what had happened to Asuma, everyone in the school got jumpy when someone suddenly couldn't be found. Could you blame them?

"Hinata?" Jiraiya asked, trying to place the name.

"Hyuga." Neji said. "You coach the swim team, right? Hinata's a swimmer, the one with the long black hair."

"Oh, you mean, Mirmaid." Jiraiya said comprehension dawning in his beady black eyes. "I'm not sure."

"You didn't have a swim meet today?" Neji asked his voice constricted with panic as Tenten squeezed his hand. Worry was filling all of them now.

"No, I had to cancel because I needed to grade papers and was put on detention duty." He nodded his head over to where Sasuke, Dosu, Kimimaro, Kidomaru, Jirobo, Zetsu and Tobi sat at desks pouring over text books doing work while they waited to be released. In their haste none of them had registered the Snake and Akatsuki members sitting in the room.

"So, do you know who would know where she is?" Kiba asked, feeling a strong wave of nausea creep up on him. Hinata was like his sister, she had helped him get with Shino, he had helped her get with Naruto after he tossed that two face bitch, Sakura, to the curb. He needed to find her, to make sure she was okay, and if she wasn't, find the bastards responsible and kick their ass.

"I can call the front office and have them send security to look for her." Jiraiya said, his hand hovering over the phone on his desk.

"No, we better not over react on this." Shino said calmly, his scowl more pronounced then usual, his brow knitted in worry over his sunglasses he always wore.

"Yeah, we'll look around a little longer before raising the alarm." Choji assured the teacher. Shikamaru was staring ahead of him as he involuntarily nodded in agreement. He didn't agree though, he wanted Jiraiya to make that call. He couldn't get the image of Asuma's mangled decapitated body out of his mind, and he couldn't stop his mind from replacing Asuma's body with Hinata's.

Tobi: *rushes writer*

Me: AAAAHHHH!

Tobe: CRAZED FANGIRL-SAMA WROTE TOBI IN!

Me: *gasping for air* you are Akatsuki Tobi now get off me! *pushes Tobi so hard he goes flying into the wall*

Zetsu: *glares at writer*

Me: I'm not apologizing

Tobi: *beginning to cry*

Zetsu: *glares at writer*

Me: You don't intimidate me

Zetsu: *glares at writer*

Me: Fine! *turns to Tobi* sorry

Tobi: *looks up* THAT'S OKAY CRAZED FANGIRL-SAMA!

Me: *head down* please stop calling me that

Zetsu: *pulls Tobi to his feet and into arms*

Me: *yaoi senses going off raises head and camera*

Zetsu: *glares at writer*

Me: can I at least watch with out the camera?

Zetsu: *in answer bends down and begins making out with Tobi*

Me: *to readers* you guys go on ahead I got me a SHOW! *sneaks camera up* he-he


	5. Chapter 5

Okay, so I think my math is a little off in this chapter, but point is that it doesn't matter...much...lol it wont hurt the story none just kinda confuse you on the age of the characters...truth be told I'm not sure who's in what grade either...I just know they're all in high school and that's all that matters!

Pein: so you didn't answer my question, why are those cops still questioning us?

Me: Just read the story

Pein: but it sucks…you're not even getting any reviews

Me: *gasps, offended* I DO TO! I have 1

Sasuke: oh yay, one fucking review

Me: *shoves head under pillow and sits on it* quiet you!

Sasuke: *muffled though pillow* I can't breathe you bitch

Me: you'll survive, now disclaimer?

Kabuto: *begins speaking* no! you've had your turn! Kakashi!

Kakashi: *without looking up from book* characters of Naruto are not owned by Ghostwritter9396, they're owned by some random Japanese company who's name sounds like every other Japanese company

Me: that's a bit mean

Kakashi: doesn't stop it from being true

Me: true….

Zetsu: THERE YOU ARE!

Me: *looks around then turns to readers* Gotta go! Enjoy the chapter! *runs off holding camera of ZetsuxTobi yaoi pics to my chest*

Zetsu: GET BACK HERE! *chases writer*

Me: NO!

High School Is Murder

By: Ghostwritter9396

Ch. 5

Back and forth, back and forth.

"Umm, Ms. Yuhi?" Hinata walked into the teacher's class room, seeing as she did so, Kurenai sitting at her desk, a vase of flowers in front of her, holding a Kleenex to her mouth, tears streaming down her face.

Hinata had never taken Kurenai Yuhi's ecology class, but Kurenai was to her what Asuma had been to Shikamaru. She had stepped up as a surrogate mother after Hinata's own mother had died from cancer five years previously.

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" Kurenai said in a dead voice, stroking one of the flowers lovingly. Hinata saw a card lying next to the vase and picked it up. The flowers were from the city's most famous floral shop, Nature's Petals, the one Ino Yamanaka's mother owned. It was signed by Asuma, giving Kurenai his love.

"He bought them for me the day he died, they were sitting on my desk the next day." Here she broke down completely and sobs echoed around the empty room. "The day before he…I told him we were…we were going to have a baby." She choked out. "He had gone on to the internet that night and started looking at toys and cribs and room décor…he was more excited about it then the wedding." She looked up at Hinata. "Hinata, what am I going to do with out him?"

Hinata put down the card and wrapped the teacher in her arms. "You're strong. You got me and Hinabi through so much, without Asuma's help. You can get through this. You have the baby, he'll need his mother. He'll need her to tell him what an amazing man his father was."

Back and forth, back and forth.

Hinata closed the locker door silently. She slipped her flip flops on and stood up. Just then she heard muffled laughter. She looked around nervously and saw the rest of the swim team looking at her from the door way to the hall. Suigetsu's eyes danced in an evil playful way. His words rang in her ears. "Let's go around the corner and fulfill a little beach side fantasy." She felt her stomach clench as she hurried out of the locker room and into the pool area.

Back and forth, back and forth. Let the water flow around her, let it cleanse her, let it wash all the bad stuff away and leave nothing but thoughts of Naruto's smile, her girlfriends' laughter, Neji's calming voice, Hinabi's cheerful gaze, her father's nodding acceptance. Let it banish the Snakes, just like St. Patrick did in Ireland. Naruto, think of Naruto.

"Hinata!"

_Naruto?_

Hinata gracefully swam to the edge of the pool and saw him, him and practically every other friend she had; Tenten, Neji, Shikamaru, Temari, Kankuro, Lee, Hana, Kiba, Shino, Gaara, Choji and to her surprise, Ino, Tayuya, Konan and Kin.

"Naruto?"

"There you are."

Before she knew what was happening, two pairs of hands, Naruto and Neji's, had reached down, pulled her from the pool and she was engulfed by more arms than she could count. She saw pale fear retreat to relieved graditude on every face that surrounded her.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"What's wrong?" Neji asked her tartly. "You just disappear, not telling us where you were going and you ask us what's wrong? Hinata, there's a killer in the school. Until that bastard's caught, we all need to keep tabs on each other."

Naruto held her close, "Don't scare us like that."

Hinata was over whelmed. She hadn't realized how much they all cared about her, she thought she was just the silent girl no one noticed. At least, that's how she had been in middle school. She hadn't registered the slow change in her over the last two years, including her lunch dates with Tenten and the other girls.

"I told you, Neji, I was swimming." She said softly.

"Yeah, but when Jiraiya said there wasn't a meet today, and we still couldn't find you, we panicked." Kiba told her. He sighed then looked at his watch. I have to get outside, it's almost three o'clock. Hana rolled her eyes.

"So?" asked Temari as Naruto flung a towel around Hinata's shoulders and Tenten lead her to the locker room to get her stuff, Tayuya, and Kin fallowing them.

"Lassie is waiting for him." Hana said exasperatedly.

"Stop calling him that, sis." Kiba scowled. "He's not even a border collie for crying out loud."

"But, like Lassie, he comes for you like clock work everyday after school, doesn't he?" Hana said briskly.

"That's just cause he misses me." Kiba said.

"Who?" Ino asked.

"Akamaru, his puppy." Hana explained. "He's cute, but he's annoying as hell."

When Hinata and the others came back, Hinata had her damp tangled hair pulled back in a low messy bundle, an over sized violet jacket zipped up over her bathing suit, long baggy white swish swash pants and her flip flops. Her school bag was across her body and her duffle was over one shoulder. She was cringing as Tayuya, Kin and Tenten talked behind her.

"I'm going to report them this time, this is stupid and Orochimaru refuses to call them out on it." Kin said her black eyes flashing.

"Yeah, well you know him, he's a total sex addict, he doesn't give a shit. He's probably having the same thoughts they are just refusing to approach her." Tayuya replied, to which Hinata gave a noticible shutter. Tenten gave Tayuya a look then said,

"This should've been reported weeks ago, Hinata I can't believe you didn't tell us. What they're doing is border line illegal."

Naruto and Neji looked at each other.

"The Snakes?" Neji asked through gritted teeth. Tenten nodded.

"Just stop!"

It was so rare for Hinata to raise her voice everyone looked at her. "This is my problem, and I…I've already reported it." Now she was definitely going into nervous break down mode, she felt the room spin and was afraid she'd pass out. "I reported it okay, and unless they do something to me physically they can only get suspended, like that'll help."

"It'll get them out of school for a while and give you some breathing room." Konan said.

Hinata shook her head. What were four of the princesses doing here anyways? Just then the door to the utility room opened and Mr. Gai came out carrying chemicals for the pool. He froze.

"Sorry guys, you can't swim now I'm going to clean the pool out, besides there's no teacher here to supervise you." He called out to them.

"You're a teacher!" Lee called back grinning.

"Don't be smart, now go home or to the library." Gai called back.

Lee grinned as the convoy of students exited the pool area out the door that led to the side of the school.

"Lee, don't you think it's odd that both you and Mr. Gai have the eyebrows?" Ino asked as they walked along the curb.

"No." he told her. "He's my father."

These words caused everyone to stop in their tracks. Lee shrugged.

"My mom met him in college, they had a one night stand, she didn't tell him and he didn't know until I came here." He swept his straight dark brown bangs out of his round eyes. He was good natured, a tad weird at times, but next to Sasuke Uchiha the cutest football player on the team. He was better than Uchiha too, but do to an asthma problem he wasn't able to play quarterback. His green sports jacket he wore unzipped over a plane black tee rose as he moved his arm.

They continued to walk, laughing and awing over this new information.

"So that's why you guys spend a lot of time together." Choji said comprehendingly.

"Yeah, why else would he shoot hoops with me after school?" Lee asked.

"Never mind." Gaara said quickly. Lee looked confused but his next question was cut off by a loud painful cry.

"AKAMARU!"

Kiba was running, pushing random students out of his way. The rest of them ran to catch up with him. He knelt on a patch of pavement by the front doors.

Hana ran up next to her brother and put a hand over mouth in horror. Shino came up next and quickly put his hands on Kiba's shoulders trying to pull him away.

"Get off me!" Kiba shouted through tears. "Call someone, damn it! Get Nurse Chiyo! Get Dr. Tsunade! Get the fucking FBI! I wanna know who did this!"

Everyone gathered around and saw a small white dog, lying on his side, a symbol was drawn underneath it. A symbol etched in blood, one that Konan placed instantly. She felt her stomach turn. _No, it couldn't be. He wouldn't be that fucking dumb to do that here at school would he?_

Shikamaru stared at the dog's limp figure lying in the blood. His mind forced Asuma's body back into view and he felt his knees shake, struggling to hold him up. Temari put a supportive arm around his waist, strong enough to keep him steady.

Ino was now running back, Tsunade hot on her heals. She pushed though the small knot of kids and knelt down next to the dead dog, looking closely.

"Call the vet or something!" Kiba howled. "They have doggy ambulances don't they?"

Hana and Shino both had their arms around Kiba as he shook and wept.

"I'm sorry, Kiba." Tsunade said softly, her own voice cracking slightly. "He's gone. Does anyone know what this means?" she pointed to the symbol.

Konan stepped forward, knowing she was going to get kicked out of the gang for this. "Hidan, Ma'am. Hidan draws that all the time."

"FUCK THIS YOU BITCH! I DIDN'T MURDER NO DANM MOTHER FUCKING PET DOG!"

"Sit down Hidan!"

"Yes, Ma'am." Hidan sat quickly in a seat across from Tsunade.

"Now, psychology wise, cereal killers usually start with small animals, then graduate to larger ones before finally killing a human. I've never heard of a killer who started with a human and declined to animals, although I'm sure there's at least one sick bastard out there that has done that. This is very serious Hidan, you are now not only looking at charges for the dog, but at murder in the first degree, do you understand?"

"I DIDN'T DO IT!" Hidan shouted in rage, his hands running through his gelled white hair, tears actually starting to kreep into the corners of his eyes. _Fuck it why didn't anyone believe him! He was twisted sure but hell, why the fuck would he kill Kiba Inuzuka's damn dog? _

Outside the office, Pein, Deidara, Sasori, Kakuzu, Itachi, Kisame, and Konan sat, listening to Hidan's shouts of protest through the oak door. _I had to tell._ Konan thought. _Even if he didn't kill Mr. Sarutobi, he definitely killed Akamaru, and he didn't see Kiba's face. That was horrible._ She looked over at Pein who squeezed her hand. He was telling her that it was alright and she did the right thing. The major thing that separated the Akatsuki from the Snakes was that even though Akatsuki had twisted and sometimes violent members, none of them were really hard core evil, not like the members in Snake. They scared Konan to the bone, every last one of them, except the girls though they had their dark side too.

The remander of the week was not pretty. At the top of the list, you had Sasuke openly kissing Karin in the hall ways. Sakura and Karin got into it in gym because of it, and both girls got detention for a whole month, on account of a stray punch from Sakura knocking Hinata out and a fly away kick from Karin causing Kankura to have a pressure bandage on his upper leg for three weeks, and probably damaged any chance he had of having kids. Next, you had Hidan, being arrested for the brutal murders of Akamaru Inuzuka and Asuma Sarutobi. The Snakes were all in cheers as this news filtered through the hall ways. Kakuzu refused to speak to anyone, including teachers, the entire week. Then you had Ino, Tayuya, Kin and Konan joining Tenten, Temari, Hana and Hinata's table during lunch, saying that ever since Tusday they couldn't take Sakura and Karin any longer. Then, on Thursday, when Sakura confronted Sasuke about the kiss with Karin, another dramatic bomb was set loose.

Everyone knew the two biggest sluts in school were Sakura and Karin. It was said that Karin had had five abortions in the last year alone, that she had slept with every male member of Snake, and that she was currently working on the members of the athletic department, although she made sure she always had a constant Snake lover in her back pocket.

Sakura hadn't been so bold as to gain a reputation that incredulous, but she had gained the reputation of being a cheating, two face lying bitch. She volunteered in both the nurse's office and the front office, so she was always in the dead center of whatever gossip was going around, and seemed to be the only one who really knew the truth about any of it. Not that she would repeat the truth, however. She was valedictorian and head cheerleader, a position she had fought with Ino to get. She was not the rich prep like Ino, who's mother owned Nature's Petals and who's father ran his own private law firm, but she was defenately the coldest one. She could be your friend one minute and then be gossiping about you the next. She was the one that started calling Tenten 'Number Girl' because of her incredible math skills, and Hinata 'Mermaid' because she was the best and only girl on the swim team. She had cheated on Naruto Uzimaki in middle school with Lee, who didn't know she was dating Naruto, and then Lee caught her 'cheating on him' with Kabuto, a Snake member who was, like her, wanting a medical degree. So when she confronted Sasuke late afternoon on Thursday, it was almost laughable, almost.

"I only did it because she was coming on to me and you had gone ALL the way with Orochimaru, I figured I'd give you a taste of your own medicine." He said, not shouting but glaring icicles at her.

"You think I cheated on you with Orochimaru?" she said. "Sasuke, I might have cheated on Naruto but after I met you, I've never cheated. Orochimaru raped me, the same way he raped Konan three years ago."

Of course there was speculation here. No one had ever gotten the full story on what exactly happened between Konan and Orochimaru. Konan had been in eighth grade, final year of middle school, and he had been a mere freshman when it happened. But either way, Sakura couldn't fully be believed. For one thing, she was a liar, everyone knew that. For another, she hadn't pressed charges against Orochimaru. Sasuke however, didn't seem to be thinking this when he heard her words. He turned around and marched off. Next thing people knew, he, Orochimaru, Kisame and Itachi were all being suspended for a week for fighting on school grounds. No one was clear on how Kisame and Itachi got mixed up in the fight, but as it was told, Itachi saw Orochimaru snap his fist back to throw the second punch, in Itachi's eyes the first, and he had rushed forward to take it for his brother. After Orochimaru hit Itachi, Kisame had jumped on top of him and, yes, bit him on the shoulder. By the time Tsunade got to the scene, all boys had minor injuries, Orochimaru was fighting Kisame and Itachi was trying to calm his brother down who was at that point attacking him. When Sakura's accusations got out, she was called to the principle's office but again said she did not want to press charges. When she let it slipped that Konan had claimed the same thing three years before, Konan was called to the office. She was furious with Sakura for bringing it all up again because as she said, "I was finally getting over it you bitch!".

There was no proof to either attack, and when asked about it, Orochimaru just said "Hey, Konan wanted me, I refused, she claimed rape. Sakura doesn't want Sasuke to be mad, I can't say I blame her, he does have a nasty temper, so she's looking for a scape goat which is Konan's old story." He had his slimy smile on the entire time, and if it had been legal, Tsunade would have punched it off his face. Even though she was older than the 17 year old boy, he gave her the willies and she was convinced, evidence or not, that he did exactly what the girls said he did.

By the end of the week everyone was a wreck. Hinata's problems with Suigetsu and the twins hadn't lessened up any, Kiba was absent so much that week that by the time Friday came along he didn't have a clue what any of his classes were talking about. The Akatsuki members were now walking around, not in their usual care free screw life way, but tense and jumpy, snapping at anyone who dare ask them a simple homework question. This was true especially with Kakuzu. Sasori was now having to be escorted to classes by at least two fellow Akatsuki members. Ever since his break up with Orochimaru the Snakes found they did not have to hold back anymore and a lot of them made it there top priority to finally beat the living shit out of the 'untouchable enemy'. And to top it off, it was getting closer to November and the weather finally started to realize it. It had dropped twenty degrees in the last week and most students weren't happy about this.

"Fuck this weather man." Sassori said as he, Deidara and Konan passed a window to see trees dancing outside.

"What's wrong with it, un?" Diedara asked looking sideways at the red head. Sasori was in tight blue jeans, a mesh under shirt, a dark green full length sweater that, in Diedara's opinion, brought out his redish brown eyes, and on top of that an unzipped brown hoody. He was already in his thick dark brown winter sneakers too. Sasori brushed his long red bangs to the side as he answered,

"It's too depressing, with everything else going around here, can't fucking mother nature give us at least a little sun shine?" ge grumbled, his face as flat as ever.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Konan said, her long blue hair tied in a ponytail, her trade mark origami flower tied at the top of the elastic. She wore a white hooded pull over with front pocket, jeans and convers. Her sleeves were pushed up and she had a blue scrunchy on her left wrist. On days like this even the gay boys thought she looked nice.

At the end of their art class Sasori was passed off to Kakuzu and Tobi, heading for English. He was getting a tad annoyed with this whole body guard thing, that was until Kabuto, Kidomaru and Jirobo came up and tried to start trouble. Tobi grabbed Sasori's hand and ran him to class, ducking under Jirobo's outstretched arm. For small, skinny, light on his feet Tobi this was no big deal, but for Sasori who was around 5.8 it was. He banged his head on Jirobo's tree trunk of an arm before he felt himself flying behind Tobi. Kakuzu, without a word, stepped around the startled Snakes and walked calmly after Tobi and Sasori.

Hidan: WTF!? I'll sacrifice you to Jashin for having me arrested!

Sasori: again…why are you making my love life a big deal?

Tobi: Crazed fangirl-sama Tobi saved Sasri!

Me: *over whelmed by characters* yes you did Tobi, because I LIKE SOSDIE AND I WANT YOU TWO TOGETHER DAMN IT!, AAAAAHHHH *thows grenade at Hidan*

Diedara: YAY! *hugs Sasori around the middle*

Hidan: OOOOWWWW That hurts!

Sasori: *pats Diedara's head looking annoyed*

Me: *to Hidan* teach you to make me a sacrifice!

Kidomaru: *comes down on spider string* so what's going to happen next? This story going any where? And what the hell happened to that Sai guy?

Me: *looks sideways* SPIDER! *grabs Hidan's blade on stick* DIE SPIDER DIE!

Kidomaru: AAAHHH *goes back up spider string*

Me: *panting* okay, big spider gone now….on to Chapter 6! ^w^

R&R PEEPS!


	6. Chapter 6

Me: okay, here's chapter 6!

Kisame: oh look, another long ass chapter where no major even happens or major questions are answered….in other words it's just a big lot of random words saying nothing

Me: *ties Kisame upside down in a tree* MEANY!

Itachi: *brings out sharingon*

Me: *holds up hands* stop, it wont work, I'm blind and besides he had it coming to him now, anyone care for a disclaimer?

Choji: *munching on chips* Ghostwriter9396 does not own Naruto or anything there of

Itachi: you're not blind bitch, you're just saying that so I don't attack you

Me: No, it's ture, I'm blind…

Iachi: *stares then holds up two fingures* how many-

Me: I will kill you if you finish that question *turns to readers* now on with the show!

High School Is Murder

By: Ghostwritter9396

Ch. 6

Kotetsu and Izumo sat at their desks late Friday afternoon. It was almost time to call it a week, a very long difficult week.

"Wanna hit the bar after we kick this place?" Kotetsu asked his partner.

"Sounds like a date." Izumo agreed as he typed on his computer and flipped through his notes. "I just have to finish typing my report on that high school teacher's murder."

The kid they had arrested, Hidan, still wasn't confessing. He was currently sitting in a holding cell awaiting trial. His father, a lawer who worked for the Yamanaka firm, had tried getting his son out on bail, but due to the horrific nature of the crime, Judge Ebizo felt the boy would do best to wait in time out away from the general public. They didn't have his confession, they didn't have a fiber of DNA or fingerprint linking him to the crime scene, and they had about twenty eye witnesses testifying that he had been getting changed for gym during the time of the attack, so why did they have him booked for the murder? Simple, they didn't have any other leads. They boy's history of torturing small animals, the act of murdering the Inuzuka boy's dog, and his general attitude made him a likely doer, the cops had done their job, now it was in the hands of the law.

"Yo! Hagane! Kamizuki! Captain wants ta see both of you now." Shouted Iwashi Tatami, a fellow detective.

"Us?" Kotetsu asked puzzled.

"You're the two leads on that teacher case, right?" Tatami asked. Izuma nodded. "Then, yeah, you."

Izuma and Kotetsu looked at each other. They were just a few key strokes away from closing this case, what could possibly be so important that the captain would want to talk to them and risk having to start all over?

"Sit down, boys." Genma Shiranui said in a tone that sounded a little too polite. His usual lay back expression was one of intense concentration, usually not a good sign if he wasn't visibly studying a case. He leaned on his messy desk, one arm crossed, the other propped up on the elbow, his fingers fiddling with the toothpick he usually had between his teeth. "Please, explain to me, why you prematurely arrested that young man, Hidan?"

Izuma looked nervous. "He was the only suspect we had that looked right for the job, Sir."

"I see. He has an alibi, no one saw him do anything but mouth off to the teacher, during class which was full of students I will add, and there's no physical evidence linking him to the crime; so remind me, why is he the best suspect?"

Kotetsu flinched but Izuma, still looking nervous, shot out, "We've prosecuted people with no witness or DNA before and won, and nine out of ten times they're guilty too."

"But this isn't one of those cases." Genma shot back. "We need hard core evidence. What about that red head from the other gang?"

"Jugo, from the Snakes." Kotetsu clarified.

"Yeah, him. I thought he was supposed to have a real temper, why isn't his ass being brought in?"

"Because we're convinced that the same kid who killed Asuma Sarutobi mangled the dog as well." Izuma said.

"And what makes you so sure the Jugo kid didn't do it? Then again, what makes you so sure a kid did any of this? Did you bother looking at the staff?"

"None of the teachers have an priors." Izuma said. "And we're certain a kid did this based on the message written on the vic's chest."

"Jugo couldn't have murdered the dog, apparently his anger only extends to humans. He volunteers every week at the animal shelter, has done even before he gained himself a record." Kotetsu explained. "Hidan has a history of killing small animals, birds, squirrels, rats, anything he can catch in his house or in the woods. He uses them in some weird sacrificial ritual."

"Last I checked, sacrificing small animals for a religious purpose isn't necessarily against the law." Genma said.

"It is if you use another person's pet dog." Izuma snapped.

"Is the potential animal cruelty charge the only substantial thing you have on the kid?"

They both nodded.

"And you know he 'sacrificed' the dog because…"

"Because the dog was found on it's side, on top of a symbol the boy paints with blood during the ceremony." Kotetsu answered.

Genma sighed, running a hand rough his longish light brown hair. He turned around, placed his baseball cap on backwards, and picked up a piece of paper. He turned back around and handed it to Izuma who scanned it.

"Oh, shit." He muttered as his eyes trailed down the letters, taking in the lab review.

"Hagane, we need to talk to the kid again."

Later that night, Kakuzu laid on his bed, staring up blankly at his celling. He was pissed. He knew, without a doubt, that Hidan was innocent. Not because he couldn't imagain his boyfriend of doing such a thing, on the contrary, he knew Hida was very capable of murder. But he couldn't see him murdering Sarutobi. Hidan shouted his mouth off at him from time to time, but that was just Hidan. Sarutobi saved Hidan's ass in every math class the guy's been in since freshman year. Kakuzu couldn't see Hidan killing a guy he owed his current grade too. He also couldn't see him killing to dog. Hidan never used anything bigger than a rabbit, wild ones he cought in his parents' guarden, for his rituals. Plus, he wouldn't go after someone's pet like that unless they really pissed him off, maybe a Snake member, but even they're pets were safe unless they pushed Hidan far enough. As far as Kakuzu knew, Hidan and Kiba, where they're not the best of pals, got on relatively well, no fuss between them.

Kakuzu sighed, putting his palms to his face and tried to rub the stress out of himself. He glanced over at the clock. 9:39 pm blinked at him in bright green numbers. He reached over and turned his CD player on, R&B filling his room. He listened to a few songs before another sound rang out; it was the phone.

"Yeah?" he muttered into the receiver, his voice thick from neglect for an entire week.

He listened for a second before replying then hanging up. He immediately made a few calls of his own before getting up. He pulled on his sneakers, a heavy yellow sweatshirt over his black wife beater, and ran his hand through his dark brown hair before tying a dark green bandana around his skull, the tips of his hair poking out from underneath it.

"Where you going, boy?" his father asked as Kakuzu made for the front door. He turned to look at his father sitting in his recliner, a beer clutched in one hand and the Tv remote in the other.

"Out, the guys are getting together for pizza."

"This late at night?" his father asked. Kakuzu muttered to himself, like his father really cared where he was going or what time it was.

"I'll be there the rest of the weekend, dad, so don't wait up." As if he ever did.

"Who's house this time?"

"Why do you care?"

"Cuz I don't want ya gett'n mixed up with any murderer that's why."

Kakuzu rarely felt shock, but his father's words sure shocked him now. _So the bastard does care after all. _He thought as he reassured his old man before heading out.

Hidan opened the door as Kakuzu rode up his drive on that damn bike of his.

"You're gonna kill you're self on that thing one of these days." He told his brown skinned boyfriend as he walked out to him.

Kakuzu got of his bike and walked up to Hidan, taking him into his arms and holding him tightly. No words, no 'How was prison?' or 'I missed you'. Just a bear hug he refused to drop for at least five minutes. Kakuzu always said he loved money and liked Hidan, but in that instant, Hidan knew it was the other way around. He buried his face in Kakuzu's chest, breathing in his scent and taking in the boy's heart beat. When Kakuzu finally released him, he bent down and kissed him gently before climbing back on to the bike and revving it. Hidan swung his leg over the seat behind him and wrapped his arms around Kakuzu's muscular chest as they sped off.

"So why so clingy tonight?" Hidan asked playfully as they rode down an empty street. "Don't tell me you missed me."

"Don't be delusional." Kakuzu shot back.

"Then, you were relieved I survived prison."

"I was glad to see no one else made you their bitch."

"How do you know they haven't?"

Kakuzu tensed beneath Hidan's arms and Hidan brushed his lips against the boy's neck, relaxing him.

"I'm glad to see those idiots finally came to their senses. If you go to jail, which no doubt you will one day with a mind like yours, it should be for something you actually did." Kakuzu said in a monotone.

"Nice to see you care." Hidan laughed.

Sasori walked down his street, heading for the abandoned flat the Akatsuki used as their meeting point. He was thinking of the reason they were meeting, of welcoming Hidan from his jail break, when he passed a house at the corner of the block next to his. He looked up and saw Diedara standing in the living room, obviously arguing with a tall woman who could only be his mother. Although her long hair was brown and her eyes a sea green, rather then sky blue, she resembled her son in every other detail. Or rather he resembled her, only with his father's coloring. Sasori walked up the drive and rang the door bell.

"Sasori, un. What are you doing here, un?" Diedara asked surprised.

"Didn't anyone call you?" Sasori asked, confused. Diedara shook his head.

"We've got an imergancy meet." He hissed under his breath. "Story is we're all heading to Zetsu's for pizza and video games."

Diedara's face fell. "I can't un. Mom's being difficult un."

"I heard that." His mother shot at him.

"Well, you are un!" he shot back. "The doctor told you a month's rest un, not three weeks!"

"I'm fine." She assured him.

"You can't even lift Kiri up yet!" he told her.

"Okay, so getting fine." She rephrased. "Diedara, if you want to go out with your friends, go ahead. Just be careful, take your cell and don't go anywhere alone. Be back by midnight."

"I'm not leaving you here alone with Kiri un! What if she wakes up hungy un? You can't bend over to pick her up un!"

"Your father's here, he can help." She reminded him.

"He doesn't help, he looks at her like she's a fucking alien un." Diedara muttered flatly.

"Actually, Ma'am," Sasori said. "It's an all weekend thing, Die wont be back till Sunday night at the latest."

"Oh." She said, her face falling.

"Exactly un. Dad can't last a whole weekend un."

"He did with you, and one weekend wont make a difference." She told him. "Go. It'll be fine, and if it's not, we'll call you and ask you to come home."

Suddenly, there came a high pitch wail. Diedara sighed. "What now un? I just changed you un!" Waving to Sasori to follow him, Diedara stomped upstairs, leaving his mother standing in the living room. "Go back to bed un!" he shot at her as he climbed.

Sasori trailed behind his best friend as the two of them walked down a hall and into a baby blue room with white clouds and a huge wall sticker in the shape of a bird flying. Sasori saw a small bundle in the crib, it's little arms instinctively flailing as it bald its head off. Diedara bent down and lifted the baby girl out of her crib, holding the back of her head, covered in dark brown hair, and putting her over his shoulder. Patting her back Diedara passed the floor, seeming to mutter to himself as he mentally went down a list. _Had a bath, been fed and changed ten minutes ago, humidifier's running normally, window's shut, been burped._

"What is it un?" he wailed himself. Sasori watched all this, his head tilted his face in its passive state as always with the exception of one eyebrow raised.

"She's the biggest cry baby ever un!" Diedara said to Sasori. "I can't leave her un, and I'm not taking her with me."

"You're really devoted to her." Sasori said impressed.

"Dad can't handle babies and mom's out of commission, who else does she have un?"

Sasori's eyes drifted to the mobile above the crib. Tiny clay birds, finely detailed and painted a variety of colors hung from five strings.

"Did you make that?"

Diedara looked around, patting his sister's back as she finally started to calm down. He nodded tiredly. "Took me the whole fucking nine months too un."

"It's amazing." Sasori said as, just when it seemed Kiri would settle down, she started wailing again. "Here, let me take her."

"You know what you're doing un?"

"Not a clue." Sasori took the tiny baby from Diedara who wearily collapsed into the rocking chair and eyed Sasori. Sasori held the baby in his arms, gently jiggling her up and down as he took over the passing.

"Oh, fuck it, that's what's wrong." Diedara hissed. He got up and leaned over the crib snatching up a pink pacifier. Not removing her from Sasori's arm's he gently popped it into her mouth. Within five minutes she was a sleep again.

"At last un." Diedara said as Sasori walked Kiri back to her crib. She had her tiny face turned to his chest and even though she fussed a little, almost disloging the pacifier again, as he placed her back down she didn't wake up again.

"Diedara." They both turned to see a man with short blonde hair and blue eyes staring at them.

"Hey dad un?"

"Go out this weekend, I've got Kiri, she is my daughter."

"You sure you can-"

"Go."

Deidara looked at Sasori and shrugged, obviously relieved he was getting some time off and that he didn't have to worry about his father backing down.

"I have my cell un. Call if you need me to come home un, I don't care what time of night."

His father nodded and then went over to look at his sleeping daughter, as if trying to reassure his son physically that he can take over the watch.

Within an hour of the calls to everyone, the entire gang was at the flat. Hidan and Kakuzu were the last to arrive and as they opened the door, they saw a blue blur shoot towards them. Kakuzu backed away quickly but Hidan wasn't so lucky. He was so used to Konan hitting him he instinctively flinched as she threw her arms around his neck and squeezed the life out of him. Then, she was gone. She went back to Pein, kissed him goodbye then ran out of the flat waving behind her. Konan didn't usually show up for a lot of the meetings unless they were really important, like welcoming back a convicted felon.

"She has a sleep over with the other girls this weekend." Pein explained as Hidan and Kakuzu stared after her. "She just wanted to stop by real quick and apologize."

"That was an apology?" Hidan asked.

"Would you rather her usual greeting punch?" Itachi asked him. They all chuckled as the door was closed and beers were passed around, followed by a couple of joints.

"Best weed in the world, grown by yours truly, no charge." Zetsu said proudly.

"Didn't you get busted for carrying this stuff around with you a little while ago?" Kisame asked, taking the joint from him.

"Yeah, that was a pain the ass." Zetsu laughed. Then he imitated the cop's voice. "So that's, one on possession and one on intent to sell."

They all laughed. Zetsu was always getting written up on that charge and his response to it never changed. "I'm not intending to sell it."

"You have enough pot here for at least twenty guys."

"Yeah, for my friends, no pay."

"Either way son, you're gonna need a lawer, if you can't afford one, one will be provided for you."

"Can I pick one out this time? I'm flat broke because, as stated, I don't sell!"

After a few minutes of drinking and inhaling, Itachi looked over at Pein. "So how was school today?"

"Don't you know?" Hidan asked him.

"Naw, Tachi and I got the boot." Kisame said.

"For good? What happened?"

"Naw, for a week. Damn Orochimaru went after my bro." Itachi explained as he took a swig from his beer.

"Damn, what happened to that happy marriage?" Hidan cracked.

The others explained to him the events of the previous week.

"Why the fuck does all the good stuff happen when I ain't there?" Hidan asked, his head on Kakuzu's chest. Kakuzu had his arm around Hidan's shoulders and was absentmindedly tugging his boyfriend's dyed hair who's bleach blonde roots were starting to show through the white. His pink contacts had fallen out after a week in jail as well and you could now see their natural hazel color.

"So what was prison like?" Zetsu asked. "Did it make you rethink your life and go over to the 'good' side?"

"Tobi's a good boy, what's wrong with being a good boy?" Tobi said. He wasn't able to handle the beer or the weed so he was content downing a whole box of mountain dew and a whole carton of Newport's.

Zetsu shook his head as his boyfriend looked up at him from the floor. Tobi was sitting at Zetsu's feet, popping chocolate pieces in his mouth, leaning against his legs. "Nothing, as long as it's just Tobi. Give me one of 'em will ya." Tobi handed him the bag and Zetsu took a huge handful and stuffed his whole mouth with them.

"Hardly." Hidan said in response to Zetsu's question. "Though, I did make some new friends."

"If anyone can go to jail and come out saying that, it would be you." Sasori told him flatly.

"Well, at first they thought I was just a helpless, scared high school boy they could play with." Hidan said with a cocky smile on his lips.

"Their mistake un." Said Diedara. Hidan nodded. "Danm straight blondie."

"So, not that we're complaining, if for no other reason than you gave us an excuse to celebrate and get high, but why were you released?" Pein asked.

"Because the fucking morons finally realized I didn't kill that damn dog, which was really the only thing they were using to say that I killed Sarutobi." Hidan spat out. "I use my own blood in my rituals, not only sacrificing another life to Jashin, but part of my own as well." Here he pulled back his long sleeves which he always wore, even in the hottest weather, and showed them all the scars on his wrists. "But, the blood that was used with that dog was Sarutobi's."

There was a silence as this information was processed through the thick dopy haze.

"But, Sarutobi was killed the week before the dog." Tobi said quietly.

"And I'm not so twisted as to hold on to dead men's blood." Hidan said. "Your boyfriend is though." He nodded over at Sasori. "Remember, he was curious to know if they'd donate his body to science."

"We broke up, but yeah you're right." Sasori replied.

"Huh?"

"The guy Sakura cheeted on Sasuke with was Orochimaru." Sasori said. "So now we're through and the entire Snake gang is out for my blood because I'm the only Akatsuki member they haven't had the pleasure to beat up yet. Up till this point I've been the beloved 'untouchable enemy'."

They all sat talking until two o'clock in the morning, then they went into separate rooms, Pein, Sasori and Diedara sleeping on the couch they had been sitting on.

"Kakuzu," Hidan whispered as they lay on the lumpy mattress (there was no bed post just the mattress).

"Hmm?"

"I don't want to go back to jail."

"I thought you made friends there though." Kakuzu taunted, his arms wrapped tightly around Hidan. Hidan was silent for a moment.

"I lied."

Kakuzu suddenly became tense again. "Thy didn't-"

"No, I was able to stop that from happening, if only by staying up all night. But they did beat me, a lot."

"So you've been a wake for five days straight?"

"Yeah."

Kakuzu pressed his cheek to the top of Hidan's head, comforting him with his mere presence.

"Okay, does your guy have an athletic attitude, a bad boy attitude, or a bookish attitude?"

"Are those the only choices? Why can't he have a funny attitude, or a helpful one?"

"No, those are those choices, now pick."

"Fine, I guess…I don't know…athletic."

Kin nodded seriously and put a check on the magazine page she was reading from.

"Okay, now where would he take you on your first date?"

"Seriously?" Hana asked her laughing. Kin nodded, very seriously.

The two of them were in Hana's room, along with Tayuya, Ino, Konan, Tenten, Hinata and Temari. All of them were having their first slumber party together, and despite the slight hesitation between the preps and the outcasts, the girls found they got along well with each other.

"Those things are a total crock you know." Tayuya said as Temari braided her long red hair, shorter stands escaping and hanging lose, refusing to be put in their place. "I came up with a bookworm as my answer and look at Kidomaru, can you see him sitting in a library studying of his own free will?"

The other girls laughed at that thought. Kin glared.

"Well, I got jock, and that's exactly what Zaku is." She defended her beloved teen girl magazine. "Every quiz I've taken in these babies, all the answers I've gotten, turned out to be true in way or another."

Ino looked over at her. "Don't have an orgasm girl." She laughed.

"Damn Kin, I wouldn't have pegged you a magazine whore." Tenten said as she and Ino sorted movies, getting ready for a long marathon. Hinata was sitting against the wall, knees drawn up, just watching the show.

Kin threw a pillow at Tenten that missed and hit Konan who was sitting behind her. Before long she, Kin, Tenten and Hana were in a massive pillow fight, laughing and calling each other names. Ino dived to save the DVD's from getting trampled and, after tying Tayuya's hair together, Temari got up, snatched the pillow from Hana and walloped all of them at once with an impressive back hand. All four went down howling with laughter and pain.

"Holy shit, girl you're strong." Gasped Konan.

"You're looking at the best soft ball player in middle school." Temari smirked. She helped the girls up and looked over at Ino.

"Got the movies ready, princess?"

Ino, ignoring the nick name nodded picking up a stack of DVD's. Hana eyed them wearily.

"They're not all chick flicks are they?"

"Well, no. Tenten made sure of that. Trust me, she tore my selections up like paper." Ino sighed. Tenten shrugged, pleased with herself. They all started heading down stairs to pop popcorn, scoop out ice cream and reheat pizza for the marathon. Kin looked over and saw Hinata still sitting against the wall, she hadn't moved. Looking after the other girls who had already gone, she turned and extended her hand to Hinata. "Come on, you need ice cream."

Hinata took her hand, smiling nervously. "I guess I'm not being very fun, sorry." She muttered.

Kin shook her head. "Don't worry about it, you're stressed. That's partly why we're doing this. You need some fun distractions in an environment where you don't have to worry about stalkers."

Hinata allowed herself to be dragged to her feet and then, after a quiet thanks, followed Kin downstairs to the others.

The truth was though, the weekend get together with the girls hadn't gone quite as planned. Everything had been great Friday night, with Konan saying that HIdan had been cleared and Tayuya and Kin saying they were trying to get out of Snake for good.

"The fact of the matter is, Orochimaru has gotten creepier and so have most of them." Kin had explained. "Tay and I are trying to convince Kidomaru and Zaku to quit also, but Zaku's brother Dosu is in the gang so leaving is kind of a nonexistent choice for him and Kidomaru is too worried about his image. If we try to get out without them, by their code we would be breaking up with the boys and that would leave us open for attack."

"What kind of psycho mind thought that up?" Ino asked, horrified.

"Orochimaru, who else?" Tayuya sighed.

"I thought Hidan's mind was twisted." Konan whispered. "But that makes him look like a preacher's son." She paused, thinking that over. "Okay, maybe not that good, but it definitely makes him look a lot tamer."

The next day, Saturday, all eight of them had gone to the mall where they ran into Sakura, who chewed her old friends out for dumping her for the others, Karin who just smiled with out a word, and none other than the twins and Suigetsu. They didn't approach the girls though, not at first.

"Hey there, Mermaid." Sakon whispered as Hinata waited for the others to get their lunch. She was saving them seats and was sipping a coke, alone, when the boys came up to her table. She felt her face burn and she tried her best to ignore them, tensing beneath her red sweatshirt.

"Did you hear us? It's rude to ignore people, Mermaid." Ukon said grinning.

"Maybe she has swimmer's ear." Joked Suigetsu, taking the seat next to her and reaching out to tap her shoulder. "Yoohoo, Mermaid. We're talking to you."

She slowly turned to look at him, fear shouting in her eyes.

"There ya go." He laughed. "Nice to have your attention." He swept her hair off her shoulder, so as to get a better look at her now trembling face.

"Leave me alone." She whispered.

"That's a bit mean, Mermaid, we just wanna talk to you. We're team mates after all, aren't we supposed to be friends?" Ukon said with a fake pout.

"I'll report you again, I swear I will." She choked out.

They all busted up laughing. "You do that, Mermaid." Replied Sakon still laughing.

"Yeah, God knows that worked out so well the last time." Howled Suigetsu.

"SUIGETSU!"

They all jumped, Kin was marching up to them, tray in hand, an evil glare on her face.

"Hey, Kin, how's it go'n." Suigetsu said off handedly, waving at her, as if he didn't even notice her expression.

"What the hell are three doing here?" Tenten asked, coming up behind Kin.

"Shopping, this is a mall you know." Ukon told her.

"What are you doing bothering Hinata again?" Tayuya asked.

"We ran into a friend and we decided to stop and chat." Sakon smirked. Temari narrowed her eyes. All the girls were standing at the table now, looking at the three boys as if they were slime, which they were.

"Stop harassing her." Tayuya snapped. "We mean it."

"Or what?" sighed Suigetsu, a little bored as he stretched his arm around Hinata's shoulders, pulling her close to him and turning his face to her hair.

Ino slammed her tray on the table and yanked Hinata, who was now shaking violently, to her feet and dragged her to stand between the others. Kin leaned over the table, eyeing each boy individually.

"Leave her alone, or I'll set Jugo on you, he owes me one for doing his English paper."

Their faces went pale, gang bro or not, if Jugo was made, or doing a favor, he would beat you to a pulp without a single thought.

"See ya round, Mermaid." Ukon called as they got up from the table and left.

Despite the comfort food, the girls' encouraging assurances that they wouldn't let the boys near Hinata again, Hinata was slowly becoming a nervous wreck. She flinched whenever someone called her name, almost broke into tears whenever someone accidently brushed against her (which wasn't uncommon in the over crowded halls of Konaho High), and by the time school was out on Monday, she couldn't turn down a hall without first hugging the wall, peering around the corner and scanning for the twins and Suigetsu. She felt sick all the time and she hardly heard what her teachers were saying in classes. She couldn't go on like this, she couldn't go on knowing she was responsible for the murders.

Hinad's return to school that week was a little more cheerful. Everyone was curious to know what prison was like, how psycho maniac Hidan had handled it, if he had made a jail break or was released by the cops, and if he was now going to change his twisted ways and be a descent person. Despite him going around and blabbing to everyone the cops finally figured out he was innocent, a lot of people still believed he was guilty and that he had broken out of jail. The Snakes were down right depressed by his return and a few members, Jirobo, Kimimaru and Dosu tried to kick him back out their way. All three were suspended.

"This is great un." Diedara sighed as he, Konan and Sasori headed to Art. "At this rate there wont be any Snakes left in school un."

"Yeah, as of right now, four out of fifteen members are suspended. Why don't they just expel them all?" Konan sighed.

"They could be thinking the same about us." Sasori pointed out to her.

"Yeah, but you boys don't go around looking for trouble though." She explained. "They're always the one to throw the first punch, you guys just go around annoying people and mouthing off to the teachers."

"Good point un." Diedara agreed.

"But we've got the potential to be just as dangerous as them. Look at Hidan. Hell, look at Pein for that matter, he's quiet but he can be deadly." Sasori replied.

"Another good point un." Deidara nodded.

"Well, in that case you could argue that everyone in the school has the 'potential' to be dangerous. The Snakes take their potential and act on it." Konan shot back.

"Yet, another good point un."

"Who's side are you on?" laughed Konan.

"I'm just listening un." He told her.

As Kakuzu, his arm around Hidan, Tobi and Sasori walked to English the next period, Sasori thought about what Konan had told him. She was right of course, and what she had said caused his mind to bring something up, something he couldn't really place. He hated it when his head got like this.

"Hand it over." They stopped. Kabuto was in the middle of the hall, towering over a scared looking freshman. The boy's light brown hair was cut short and his huge green eyes were widen as Kabuto held one hand out, the other pushing up his glasses.

"But, I need it for after school." The boy cried.

"You should have thought of that before you asked me to help you in biology, now hand over the money. I told you there would be a fee, did I not?"

"Please, I thought you meant me do a favor for you, I can only spare two dollars."

"That wont be enough, now hand it all over."

Trembling, the boy reached in his pocket and drew out twenty dollars. He handed it to Kabut.

Kakuzu, at that point, removed his arm from Hidan and stepped forward. He grabbed Kabuto and slammed him up against the wall. "Give it back." He snarled.

Kabuto, trying not to lose his cool but getting a nasty expression on his face all the same, tried to free himself as he spat, "Make me."

Hidan, Tobi and Sasori all groaned, you never say that to Kakuzu. Kakuzu pushed Kabuto up the wall a little higher and snatched the money from his hand. Letting the silver ponytailed bastard fall to the floor Kakuzu flipped through the bills and then held the money out to the stunned kid. "Here."

"Hey, you can't-"

Kakuzu stared down at Kabuto, his green eyes flashing. Being a good four or five feet shorter than Kakuzu, and smaller when it came to muscles, Kabuto pushed his glasses up his face again, placed his cocky smirk back on his face and nodded. "I'll be seeing you around, Kakuzu." Then he walked away.

"Hey man, you only got eighteen bucks from him, he still has two dollars." Wined the boy. Kakuzu turned his head and glared at the kid.

"No, I have the two dollars. It's your payment for having me get you out of that mess, now get to class."

The kid looked like he was going to protest, but then thought better of it. He ran away as the other three shook their heads.

"Now, in this chapter, Dickens states that 'self-preservation is the first law of nature.'" Iruka said, writing notes on the board as he talked about Oliver Twist. "Can anyone define self-preservation and why Dickens says it's the first law of nature?"

As Sasori wrote in his notebook, he thought again of what Konan said about everyone having the potential to be dangerous. Damn it what was he trying to connect with that? It could be nothing, but something was nudging at his mind. To his left, Karin flipped her red hair over her shoulder and adjusted her glasses and she rose her hand to answer the question.

"Self-preservation is self-explanitory." She said in an almost encyclopedia tone. "It means to preserve or maintain one's own life above others. Dicken's most likely thought that it'd be the first law of nature, because without self-preservation, we could hardly accomplish anything. How can stuff get done if we aren't in satisfactory conditions to achieve them?"

Iruka nodded. "Good, Karin." He went on discussing it further. As he talked, Sai turned his thoughts inward. He looked down at Shikamaru, the boy who had, according to other students, been effected most by the teacher's death. If he had followed Dickens's line of thinking, he would know that part of self-preservation would be not to connect yourself to others because when that connection's severed it only harms you, which of course goes against preserving yourself. At least, to Sai it was. And one could argue that he was right in a certain way. Either way, the boy looked terrible, even from this distance. Sai, who knew something about loosing loved ones, decided to try and talk to him after class.

As Sasori watched the new kid go up to Shikamaru and extend a hand, Konan's words finally hit him. _Anyone has the potential to be dangerous._ He thought about that day when he and Sai were called to the principal's office and of the expression on his face. Then, Sasori had thought it was just numbness, but now, keeping Konan's words in mind, he thought maybe that it could've been a mask to hide what he was really thinking. The thing that was nudging at his mind starting shouting and he finally got it. Sai, the weird new kid who no one knew anything about, and who had been the last kid to see Asuma Sarutobi was the murderer.

Kabuto: for the record *pushes glasses up face* Kakuzu doesn't scare me

Kakuzu: you pissed your pants

Kabuto: that's beside the point *pushes glasses up face*

Me: come here *puts thick tape around head holding glasses up*

Kabuto: hey! Now I can't see bitch!

Me: but at least they're staying up on your face now, right?

Diedara: I'm no fucking baby sister un!

Me: but you love your little sister

Deidara: I DON'T DO DIAPER DUTY UN!

Sasori: yeah, you said you were gong to shove us together….where's that?

Me: just read the story

Tobi: is Sai and Shikamaru friends now?

Me: *to all characters* JUST READ THE FUCKING STORY!

Tobi: but-

Me: No Tobi, I'm not answering any questions just read!

Tobi: *tearing up* but we can't crazed fangirl-sama

Me: why not?

Tobi: because crazed fangirl-sama hasn't put up the next chapter yet *bursts out crying*

Zetsu: now look what you've done

Me: *…* next chapter coming up! XD


	7. Chapter 7

Tobi: YAY!

Me: what are you 'yaying' about?

Tobi: crazed fangirl-sama put up the next chapter!

Me: *looks at Tobi* uhhh yeah…..

Tobi: and now crazed fangirl-sama will give Tobi a cookie!

Me: no…

Tobi: but Tobi's being a good boy and reading story

Me: and…..

Zetsu: *cuts in with disclaimer* Ghostwritter9396 doesn't own naruto now can we get on with this already?

Tobi: TOBI WANTS A COOKIE!

Shikamaru: give him a fucking cookie already he's being such a drag

Me: but I don't have a cookie

Naruto: *grabs cookie bag from Choji* here ya go

Choji: NARUTO!

Sai: It's actually for the best Choji, all those cookies will make you fa-

Ino: *punches Sai out* shut up you moron

Me: *rolls eyes as characters start fighting and turns to readers* on with the show you guys

High School Is Murder

By: Ghostwritter9396

Ch. 7

"Hagane, well it's about fucking time we got our asses burning on the heat seat because of- I don't care, it was still- yeah, we'll be there in five." Kotetsu dropped his desk phone back in its cradle and then looked up at Izumo who was eyeing him closely.

"Come on." Kotetsu grumbled. "We have a date with Shiho and Aoba."

"A month and half later and they're finally ready to share details, huh?" Izumo spat.

"Shiho claims they've been undermanned and over whelmed for the past two or three months and our case, though gruesome, wasn't at the top of the list. Apparently the autopsy was done by a rooky and it wasn't a pretty job. Aoba noticed some minor paper work mistakes and decided to go over the whole thing personally to see what other details were botched, apparently quite a few." Kotetsu sighed.

"And they're just now sharing this because…" Izumo said.

"Because they've just now completed. Once the mistakes were found, Shiho decided to personally go over the forensic evidence again as well. They only caught all this a week ago, gives you an idea of how much this city's gone ta hell, huh?"

Izumo shook his head as he and Kotetsu walked down to the lab.

"You always have to be the fucking hero don't you?!"

"It wasn't my fault you decided to pick a fight!"

"I never asked you to step in!"

"I didn't know you deserved that punch I took for you! Believe me, kiddo, if I knew you started the damn thing I would've watched him beat the shit out of you!"

"BOYS! Please, just stop."

Itachi and Sasuke looked over at their mother who was holding a glass of water in one hand and her head in the other.

It was not a happy time at the Uchiha home. Their father had drunken himself sick when he found out that both his sons, not just one, were suspended. He had blackened Itachi's face to the point that no amount of make up would cover it completely, and Sasuke was nursing a twisted wrist and his own head ache. His father had literally grabbed him before Itachi could recover from his own beating, and had thrown him against a wall. When their mother had tried to calm him down he had shaken her and yelled in her face till she was sobbing. Then he went into his 'study' and slammed the door. When their mother gathered her courage to call him for dinner, she had found him slumped in his chair passed out. Now, she was trying to tend to her anxiety migraine and Itachi and Sasuke were shouting accusations at each other.

Although it had been a few weeks since they had been suspended, their father had decided to punish them now, letting his anger brew over that and other minor offenses until it exploded out of him. That was usually how he liked to handle things.

Itachi sighed, turned around, and practically ran to his room. He slammed his door, running a hand trough his long bangs. Feeling like the walls were closing in on him, as they usually did after incounters with his father. He snatched up his phone and jammed numbers until he heard a ring on the other end.

"Yo."

"Can I come over?"

"Your dad?"

"And, more shockingly, my brother."

"My folks are gone for the week so sure."

"Where'd they go?"

"Business trip or something, I could really care less, man."

Fifteen minutes later Itachi drove up a gravel drive, parked outside a brick house that was backed up to the edge of a wood, and got out. He walked up the three stone steps and right into Kisame's waiting arms, feeling like he had ran the entire way from his house.

"So what are we looking at?" asked Izumo as he and Kotetsu ran their eyes over photos, typed reports and x-rays.

"A thorough autopsy report." Aoba said from behind his desk. It was obvious he was not happy about this.

"You know we jumped the gun because we thought we didn't have anything substantial to pinpoint the suspect?" growled Kotetsu.

"As Shiho told you over the phone, we've had our hands tied and this case wasn't a priority so it was easy to over look." Aoba shot back. "Just be thankful I caught what I did, other wise we may never have found out."

"So, explain what we've got." Izumo said impatiently.

"The vic was tortured before he was murdered, that's obvious from the position he was found in." Aoba sighed, pointing to a picture of Asuma's decapitated corpse lying in the bushes.

"The cause of death is hard to determine because of the extensive injuries he substained, it could have been the glass that was shoved down his throat, his ribs were practically stomped on and some splintered penetrating the heart so it could be that. It could have been the stab wound on his back that punctured a lung, causing it to collapse, but we do know that it wasn't decapitation."

Izumo and Kotetsu stared at him. "What?"

"From the blood congelation we can determine that the head was severed after death." Aoba explained. "We can also be sure that this wasn't sexually motivated."

"What makes you so positive?" Kotetsu asked.

"Only one head was severed and that was the one lying next to the body." Aoba said matter-a-factly. "If this was a teen trying to kill the monster, he would have pinpointed the genitalia as a prime torture point, either before or after death. As much pain and humiliation that man suffered, he did not suffer any trauma in that region."

"You said that there was a stab wound? That wasn't in the initial report." Said Izumo, still scanning the papers before him.

"Nor was the glass shards found under the vic's neck muscle tissue, or the fact that both arms had been broken beneath the elbow, or the fact that there was something shoved inside the body."

There was a pause.

"Come again?"

"We found a piece of paper shoved inside the open hole in the vic's back, shoved upward toward the heart. It didn't contain a send off prayer."

"Where is it now?" asked Izumo.

"I'm having my top scientists clean it up as we speak." Shiho, who had been standing quietly next to Aoba's desk, informed them. "We're also dusting the glass shards for prints."

"I don't get it." Kotetsu said stunned. "We examined the body at the scene, why didn't we notice the broken arms at least?"

"Don't you remember?" Izumo said quietly. "We did a once over of the body before assisting the guys in blue with crowd control. Shortly after that we went up to the principal's office and spoke to the Nara boy. We really didn't examine everything, there was just too much chaos. The only thing we could really determine from the scene was that the body had been moved, he hadn't been killed in the bushes."

"Yeah, but still. All this had to take some more time then what the perp had. I mean, he was killed in the five minutes between the end of lunch and beginning of next period." Kotetsu reminded them.

"No, he was killed around 1:56, almost a whole hour after he was last seen, about ten minutes before he was found." Aoba confirmed, his gaze steady and stern behind his dark sunglasses. "The rooky who did this autopsy, Damien, he's not very good at his job. He's not supposed to do anything like this without a supervising coroner with him because he's about six weeks out of med school. However, the damn fool was too egger to prove himself, especially on a murder case, and he screwed us all up royally. From the crime scene to the autopsy table. There's more though." He added as Izumo snorted.

"More to what? This damn office's incompetence? Because between your department, the forensic science lab, and your's truly, we make the whole system look like a circus act." Snapped Kotetsu, running a hand through his thin dark brown hair.

"There's more to the body." Aoba said coolly.

"More than what you already told us?" Izumo asked in disbelief. "What, that wasn't enough? What more could the guy have gone through?"

"Each one of his organs had been removed and then replaced before death."

A horrified silence and then-

"How do you know it wasn't from your dumb kid?" snapped Izumo as Kotetsu sank into a chair trying to control his stomach's tilde wave movements.

"Because even Damien would've used semi proper procedure in the actual act of examining the body, it was just the paper work he botched. No, these organs; the heart, both lungs and kidneys, liver, were removed, from the body without being detached from the body, cut with a sharp small blade, smaller than what was used to open his back, and then placed back carelessly. The cuts weren't deep enough to truly cause any damage, but I don't want to think of how much pain that poor man felt."

"Why didn't no one hear him screaming?" Izumo asked.

"Because under the head, there was a cloth that was not put into evidence correctly. It was pared with the man's clothes. It was used as a gag according to saliva residue, DNA matches the vic." Shiho sighed. "This case, even if we're lucky to find the bastard, it'll fall apart in court."

"Yeah, let's not think about that and just find the sick prick." Muttered Izumo.

"Good, Hinata, keep your chin ducked when you spin off!" Jiraiya shouted as he walked along the side of the pool, observing the swim team as they did they're usual laps. "Sakon, straigten your legs a little! Good Suigetsu, Sakon copy Suigetsu's form! Ukon don't push off so hard! Control your strokes more!"

After they were done all four kids climbed out gasping and dripping.

"Well done you guys, Hinata, you're getting better each week, keep up the great job. Boys, you're still a little sloppy, especially you Ukon, but you're form is getting better too. Great work everyone, see you here next Monday after final bell, now go get dried off."

They all headed to the locker rooms, Hinata heading for the girls' when she heard her name. "One moment Hinata, I need a word."

Thinking this was about her poor essay she had handed in the previous class period she turned around, wrapping her towel around her a little tighter.

"I heard you're having trouble with the boys, that they're bothering you or something." Jiraiya asked, concerned. _How ironic._ She thought. _One of the biggest pervs in the school is actually going to try to intervene with a stalker issue._

"I'm fine, Sir." She whispered. She couldn't report it again, not after last time.

"Well, I don't really blame them." Jiraiya said thoughtfully. Hinata felt her stomach clench and her muscles tightened instinctively, preparing to carry her away if needed. "I mean," he continued. "you are the cutest girl in school, I know if I were a student…" he let the sentence go unfinished. Now she definitely wanted to be in the locker room. "But that does not justify harassment. If they're getting too close or making you feel too uncomfortable, you need to let people know. These things can oxalate you know, and I don't want to see you get hurt, in any way."

She looked up at him and he smiled down at her.

"I know I'm probably not the best person to be saying any of this, given my reputation and all, but I don't deny that I do care about all the students here."

"You were caught groping a girl's chest." Hinata said softly. Jiraiya waved his hands.

"I was helping her up, she fell in the hall and my hand slipped." He said defensively.

Hinata stared at him.

"That's not the point anyways. I'm trying to help you, Mermaid."

"Don't call me that, please." She whispered. "And stop worrying, I'm fine really, Mr. Jiraiya."

Before he could stop her, she turned and walked to the locker room, showered, changed, and headed out the school where Tenten, Temari and Konan sat waiting for her. Each of them had to stay late as well so they figured Temari could all drive them home.

"Did any of you tell Jiraiya about my stalkers?" Hinata demanded as she came up to them. All three girls looked startled and shook their heads. "Do you know if Naruto did?"

"We have biology together," said Temari. "I didn't hear him say anything to him about it."

"Hinata, half the teachers know." Konan said quietly. "They see it in the halls, them coming up to you, you scanning each hall before you step out of a room, it's not exactly the biggest secret in the school."

"But they can't do anything unless you complain to them." Tenten said sadly. "Why don't you?"

Hinata sighed and sat down next to Temari who put an arm around her shoulders. "I did." Hinata whispered. "But it didn't do anything, like I said before, they have to physically do something."

"They did, that day at the mall, remember? Suigetsu put his arm around you and Ino had to drag you away from him." Konan reminded her. Hinata shook her head.

"I think it has to be on school grounds. Anyways, it's just their word against mine, like they say, it's only talking."

The others looked at each other hopelessly. Even though Hinata tried to be strong in not telling, this whole stalker thing was getting to her. She'd lost at least ten pounds in the last two weeks, her clothes looking larger on her now then they ever did before. She had dark circles under eyes and she jumped so violently at any sudden noise she dropped whatever she was holding at the time. This was getting really serious.

However serious it was getting, though, it was not over shadowing the immense tension that was in the halls these days.

It had been almost two months since Asuma Sarutobi was found murdered in the bushes by the track, and Kiba's dog Akamaru was murdered outside the front doors. The blood stain on the walk way was still semi visible and kids went out of their way to avoid walking on it, as if it was a curse or something. The detail that it had been Asuma's blood, and not Akamaru's, was kept silent for a while. But eventually, it, like every other big news in the teen world, got out. No one knows exactly how it leaked, but when it did kids talked about little else for a whole week. They all asked the same question, "Who would be sick enough to cary around the blood of a dead man?"

"Maybe it wasn't a student after all. Maybe Sarutobi was involved with the CIA and a hit man learned his identity or something."

"No way, can you see old Sarutobi leaping on roof tops and cracking computer codes? He could barely operate his e-mail account. No, he was involved with organized crime, like a trafficker or something. You watch, when the whole story gets out they'd of found a whole pile of coke in his house."

"You idiot, that would mean Kurenai would be one too, they lived together remember?"

"She might not have known about it. He could've hidden it from her for her own safety."

"Naw, he'll turn out to be just what they're saying he was, a boy perv. How much you wanna bet Shikamaru was the teacher's main pet?"

Stories like these and more circulated the halls until, Shikamaru who had finally had enough, snapped. When he heard the 'teacher's main pet' comment he went off and pumbled the poor bastard to a bloody mass. The kid had a broken nose, a smashed eye socket and five missing teeth by the time the teachers could pull a shaking Shikamaru off of him.

"Don't you dare!" he was heard shouting as they pulled him to his feet and away from the sobbing kid. "Don't you- you didn't even know- he was the greatest- don't you-!"

Shikamaru was sent to the school's guidance councilor, a woman named Yugao Uzuki, who calmed him down and then called his father.

"Here's the name and number of a good grief therapist." She had said, handing a slip of paper over to Mr. Nara. "Shikamaru isn't a bad kid, and he doesn't need to be punished for his grief, however, there needs to be some action taken to insure that he gets the help he needs to over come this. We can't have him snapping on anyone who might have the misfortune to say a negative word about Asuma in his presence."

Shikamaru's dad nodded and squeezed his son's shoulder. "I'll take him home for the rest of the day." He said. "Actually, maybe it would be best to keep him out of school until he's seen this therapist at least once or twice."

Yugao nodded in agreement, then turned to Shikamaru. "You're not being reprimanded, Shikamaru, but you obviously need help letting whatever your feeling out."

Shikamaru nodded, not really hearing her. He didn't care any more. He thought back to that day at the end of English when the new kid Sai had extended his hand. After a few minutes light conversation, Shikamaru heard a kid talking to her friend about Sarutobi and his face had darkened. Sai had put a hand awkwardly on his shoulder and told him he understood; that he himself had lost loved ones and that, if ever Shikamaru needed to talk, he would listen. Shikamaru hadn't taken the boy up on his offer, he didn't know why he just felt uncomfortable with those emotionless black eyes staring at him. Sai had no expression whatsoever on his face, it was impossible to tell what the boy was thinking. But now, Shikamaru pared his words up with the counselor's. Maybe the boy was thinking the same thing she was, that Shikamaru was weak or something, like he couldn't handle Asuma's death or something. He felt his father's hand on his shoulder, leading him out of the building and over to the car. They didn't say a word all the way home.

"Poor, Shikamaru un." Said Deidara as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"Yeah, Temari says she's never seen him like this. Apparently he's always had kind of a laid back, go with the flow, kind of attitude. Only now he's so depressed he'll barely talk to her. He'll still go places with her and everything, but he wont talk." Konan said over her school made vegetable soup that was just short of being the worst thing she's ever tasted.

"What do you care, blondie?" smirked Hidan from across the table. "You don't even know the kid."

Hidan had cringed when Konan said Shikamaru had to go to therapy. He himself was now being forced to go, something not even Kakuzu knew. The cops hadn't let him go just like that, not without making his dad promise them he'd force his son to get serious psychiatric help.

"I don't have to know him to imagine what he must feel un. He lost a mentor, a close friend un, it must be painful."

The entire Akatsuki gang were sitting at a table in the cafeteria, Konan joining them to catch up on things. She had been spending so much time with her new girlfriends she hadn't been hanging with the guys as much and she found, to her own shock, that she kind of missed them.

Sasori looked sideways at Deidara, impressed once more by the boy's compassion. Ever since Hidan's jail break, that long weekend spent at the flat, a spark between them had ignited. He didn't know when it happened, probably when they were trying to comfort his sister, but he knew that they both felt it. Whenever they stared too long into each other's eyes, or brushed up against one another, they would quickly change the topic of whatever they had been talking about, or turned away from each other blushing as they tried to act like nothing was going on. Tobi's loud shouts brought Sasori back to the present.

"GUYS! IT'S SNOWING LOOK!"

They all turned to the large see through doors that led out of the cafeteria and into the court yard. White flakes were drifting in the wind and from the looks of it, sticking to the dead grass that lined the concrete.

"Perfect." Groaned Sasori, putting his head on his arms. "More cold depressing weather."

"So have you patched things up with Sakura and Karin yet?" Kisame asked, stealing one of Itachi's chips, talking as if half the room wasn't talking hopefully of a snow day.

"You kidding?" Konan asked laughing. "If we even try to talk to Sakura she's all glares and sharp remarks. She thinks I'm Satin Spawn for not completely backing up her rape story and I after she blurted that out after all this time, using it to avoid getting into trouble herself, don't want anything else to do with her. As for Karin, she doesn't think much of Sakura these days but she's too high and mighty to stoop down to our level and befriend outcasts. So we're on mutual plesent terms. We all knew Sakura was becoming more of a bitch these last two years or so but we tried to ignore it, thinking she would see how bad she was getting and turn around." Konan shook her head, giving up on her soup and attacking her chocolate cake that tasted stale. "Didn't happen."

"Tell us again, how exactly you hooked up with the outcasts." Zetsu said, reaching over and attempting to take one of Pein's fries but got his hand knocked away and an evil glare from Pein.

"No." Pein said firmly. Apparently Pein did not like to share, and coming from a family with five brothers, no one could really blame him.

"Ino, Tayuya, Kin and I were heading outside when we ran into all of them, they were looking for Hinata. We knew the twins and Suigetsu likes to tail her, so we joined the search, thinking they had cornered her again."

"Had they?" Sasori asked. Konan nodded slowly.

"Not exactly, but they were bothering her in the locker rooms."

Pein tensed. He usually didn't care what the Snakes did, as long as they weren't messing with his gang members, but as Konan said this his face darkened, his hazel eyes narrowing in dislike.

"Do they still go after her?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's kind of sad. She says she's already reported it once, but we're not so sure. She doesn't want to do it again, and none of us know what to do." She looked at her boyfriend and then around the table at the others who, with the exception of Tobi, looked pissed. She wasn't sure if Tobi had the ability to look pissed but he looked stern, because even he could understand hate for people who bullied others.

"Look guys, it's not for you to get involved in, okay? Naruto and Neji are looking out for her, besides if any of you, especially you Hidan, get into any more trouble this year you're gonna get the boot for good."

Pein nodded but not really hearing her. "I know Naruto, the two of us had some history a while back. He's a year or two younger than me, but we still hung out in grade school. Him, Sasuke, Orochimaru and I used to play lazer tag during recess. If anyone can keep a good eye on her it's him. Tell Hinata though if she'd like us to help in any way we're here for her."

"Okay, help me to understand why we're all of a sudden ready to defeand the outcasts?" Hidan said exasperatedly. "We don't know nor care for them."

"Shut up, Hidan." Kakuzu said. "Ever since Sarutobi died, this school has developed into two main groups, those who think we did it, and those who think the Snakes did it."

Pein nodded. "And anyone who thinks the Snakes did it is a friend to us. The outcasts believe we're innocent, mainly because we don't beat on them like the Snakes do. And you know we stick together, so why not add the outcasts too? We can't afford to have them think we still had something to do with the murder, that would put us in a worse sight. We're trying to show the cops and the teachers and everyone else we don't commit violence for violence sake, we're kind of like the protectors of the innocent."

Hidan grumbled but didn't complain aloud again.

"That's so touching, Akatsuki, the heroes of Konaho High."

Pein turned around sharply to see Orochimaru standing behind him, the twins, Jirobo, Kimimaru and Kabuto all grinning behind him.

"Can we help you?" Pein snarled.

"I was just talking to a few of my boys here and Kabuto here said that one of your kids stole from him." Orochimaru said smirking.

"So?" Pein said, his eyes instinctively finding Kakuzu who didn't look perturbed whatsoever.

"Well, I think we should resolve this little misunderstanding don't you?"

"No." Pein said, turning back to his tray. He looked at his watch and saw they had five minutes left before the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. He looked over at Konan who was searching for a teacher, she didn't find one and he didn't want to start anything with her so close to the drama.

"I think we really ought to you know." Orochimaru said behind him. "After all, heroes don't steal from the innocent, now do they?"

Pein restrained himself, but just barely. Hidan however did not.

"Speaking of matters that need to be settled, whatever happened between you and your husband? The happy king and queen snake finally realize what douches the other one is?"

Everyone groaned as Kakuzu pushed Hidan under the table. It didn't do much however. Jirobo and Kimimaru leapt across the table, knocking over drinks as they tried to reach Hidan. Sasori leapt to his feet and roughly dragged Kimimaru off the table as Pein did the same with Jirobo. Kimimaru turned to Sasori and punched him square in the jaw. Deidara retaliated by punching Kimimaru in the gut. The twins took a hold of Deidara and threw him against the glass doors, causing them to rattle in their frame. Zetsu and Itachi leapt on top of the twins and Kabuto leapt for Itachi but was cut off by Konan. She kneed him in the soft spot, turned around and ran for a teacher. She was not going to let them get expelled, not if she had anything to say about it.

Jirobo had Pein in a head lock before Kisame was able to get a hold of him. Orochimaru went for him but Kakuzu stopped him. It got to the point where everyone was fighting everyone and even Tobi was getting a few punches, both aiming and receiving.

"Break it up!" Kakashi was there, his silver hair falling over his face hiding his left eye. All the boys, painting and coughing broke apart from each other, an invisible line separating the Akatsuki from the Snakes.

"Orochimaru, you and your group follow me, Pein, take yours to the nurses office, it's okay you're not in trouble for once." As Kakashi herded the Snakes out of the cafeteria to the principal's office, Konan ran to Pein and gently felt the skin beneath his right eye that was already beginning to swell and turn blue. "Come on." She said to the boys, watching as Hidan helped Kakuzu up, Sasori knelt over a dazed Deidara, Kisame wrapped an arm around Itachi's shaking shoulders, and Zetsu brushed the tears away from poor Tobi's eyes ignoring a trickle of blood falling from his own swollen lip. She shook her head, glad to know she was able to get a good kick in before getting real help.

FYI: that rooky Damien is not a naruto character he's just a name I pulled out of my magic rabbit hat

Hidan: reading over autopsy report…this is pretty twisted stuff…right up Orochimaru's isle…you two think a like you know that

Me: *tears Hidan's limbs off one by one* never. Compare. Me. To. Orochimaru. You. Sadistic. Bastard.

Hidan: HEY THAT HURTS CUT IT OUT! YOU CALL ME SADISTIC! KNOCK IT OFF! KAKUZU!

Kakuzu: I'm not getting involved with this one, I'd prefer to keep all my hearts intact

Hidan: TRADER! *to writer* JASHIN WILL DESTROY YOU!

Me: obviously I'm not caring

Asuma: *cigarette falling out of mouth as eyes stare at autopsy report* kinda makes me glad I died the way I did in the show….

Kabuto: *attempting to tear off tape and pulling hair* damn it! I wanna see the report too!

Me: *cocking eyebrow* so you can moon over it? I don't think so

Orochimaru: my my you are the little sadist aren't you my dear, you would make a great asset

Me: come near me and not even a reanimated corpse will be enough to sustain what's left of you

ALL CHARACTERS: *flinch and step back*

Kiba: on that note

Naruto: ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!

Me: R&R GUYS! *evil smirk*


	8. Chapter 8

Me: *looks t characters* are we going to start acting like civilized shinobi now?

ALL CHARCTERS: *all tied up together* yes crazed fngirl-sama

Me: *untie rope* good little ninjas

Kiba: *punches writer* forgot to repay you for killing Akamaru

Me: *holding bloody nose* I guess I kind of deserved that….oh well any one up for a disclaimer?

Jiraiya: naruto is not owned by this writer

Tsunade: she is just really pathetic

Me: no body asked for your opinion ya old bat

Tsunade: *punches writer through wall* this old bat's got sonic hearing kid

Me: *dazed* okay….on to da next chaper *passes out*

High School Is Murder

By: Ghostwritter9396

Ch. 8

"Itachi, can I speak to you in my office?"

Itachi looked at the other boys. Half of them were holding ice packs to various parts of their bodies, mainly their faces. Kakuzu had a tuff of tissue clogging one nostril to stop it bleeding, Kisame had one contact out, leaving one eye yellow while the other shown his natural dark blue. Sasori was nursing a bruised jaw the nurse assured him wasn't fractured and a still dazed Deidara who had his head in Sasori's lap, the latter holding an ice pack to the back of his head. Itachi followed the nurse into a corner room off the main infirmary area where two filing cabinets stood on either side of a crowded desk. "What's up?" he asked, leaning against the closed door and crossing his arms.

"Some of your bruises are not from this fight, they're at least 24 hours old." Nurse Chiyo said.

"Oh, yeah, well, you see on my way home from school yesterday, I got jumped." He said quickly.

"By the Snakes?"

"No, by a few older guys selling on a corner. I bumped into them by mistake and they were high and didn't like that."

"Surely all your fighting experience here at school helped you get out of that scrape with less injuries than I'm seeing."

"Probably, if it wasn't for the knife I had to fend off as well."

"I don't see any defensive knife wounds on you, boy." She was looking at him hard. "Did you tell your father about this? Surely he could get an old buddy from the squad to help find these gentlemen."

Everyone in the city knew about his father. He had been one of the best cops on the streets and was on the fast track of becoming a detective in the next year or so before he got shot three times in the stomach by a kidnapper he was pursuing. To this day that whole case in general stuck in Itachi's mind, even though it had happened over 15 years ago, when he was only 3. He decided not to answer Nurse Chiyo who took his silence as a sign.

"Is your father alright these days, boy? He isn't doing anything drastic, to himself or others, is he? Depression can have a number of effects on a person and if it's not watched closely it can be just as devastating as the thing that causes it."

"Everything is fine, Ma'am." He said giving her his fake smile, the one that came out every time he was screaming inside his head. Only Sasuke and Kisame could see through this smile, which was just the way he liked it.

Chiyo nodded, walked over and opened the door. "Take care of yourself, boy." She turned back to the others who were still waiting, not sure what to do. Tobi was still sniffling as silent tears fell down his pudgy cheeks. Zetsu was holding him, but it wasn't helping much. "Tobi it's alright, boy." Chiyo said, coming up to him. "Is there something wrong? Are you hurt somewhere else?"

Tobi didn't answer this, because he didn't know how to.

"He usually runs from fights, Nurse Chiyo." Zetsu explained to her.

"Yeah, Granny, this was the first time he's ever been caught in the middle of a brawl like this." Sasori pitched in. Chiyo sighed.

"Well," she said thinking. "let me check with Dr. Tsunade, but I don't see why Tobi can't go home early today. After all, it is the last day before Thanksgiving Break."

Tobi laid down on the small cot in his bedroom later that day. He had gone home like the nurse had suggested and he was now waiting for the others to get out so he could call Zetsu. He looked around the light blue walls, the few possessions he owned; a computer, phone, lamp, a few books, and some toys from his childhood he couldn't part with; and finally the ceiling. He didn't want to see the mirror hanging on the far wall by his closset. He reached beneath him and folded his pillow over his ears, trying to block out the nurse's question.

"Are you hurt anywhere else?"

Yes, he was hurt somewhere else, but it was hurt that had been going on for as long as he could remember and he hadn't let anyone know about it, not even Zetsu. He didn't know how to let anyone know about it.

"That was close with Chiyo." Itachi told Kisame that night as they curled up on Kisame's couch, eating take out and watching reruns of Survivor.

"She ask you questions about your father?" Kisame asked, taking a gulp of his mountain dew. Itachi nodded.

"Ya know, I'm kind of curious myself." Kisame said after a short pause. "Why does he beat you guys? I mean, he was a cop right? He probably helped put a ton of child beaters behind bars. So why did he turn to the dark side?"

Itachi was silent for a moment, not really wanting to get into it. He put his rice container down and sighed. Kisame looked over at him, waiting patently for an answer.

"He was shot during a case and he was forced to retire early, he got depressed and started drinking more. He's only dangerous when he's drunk."

"Drunk is no excuse, you know that." Kisame said. "What happened on the case? What was he doing?"

Itachi shook his head, tears prickling his eyes.

"Have you ever talked about it?"

"Sasuke asked a few times, seeing as he was only a baby when dad lost his job. Mom told him the broad details, but…there was another person involved in the case, someone who's name we haven't said since."

"Who's?"

"Madara." The word sounded foreign in Itachi's mouth as the tears broke the barrier. He had been thinking of his cousin ever since the nurse asked about his father and he couldn't stop thinking about him. After all this time without mentioning his name, the memory of him locked away inside, never looked at, it was out, and refused to go back in the shadows where it belonged. He shook his head and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Forget it man, let's just drop it, please."

Kisame leaned Itachi to him, kissing the top of his head and rubbing his arm comfortingly. He knew better than to press the subject.

"Kiri, it's okay un. Stop crying!" Deidara was rocking his sister, who was now three months old and so used to her brother taking care of her that these days she wouldn't go to sleep or eat for almost anyone else, except Sasori who helped out occasionally. Deidara's mother was no longer bed ridden but she was taking advantage of her son's sense of responsibility to start looking for a new job, not wanting to go back to school because of Asuma's murder. Now, Sasori was leaning against the door frame of Kiri's room, an empty bottle held in his hand, watching Deidara try and calm the still crying baby.

"She need changing?" he asked.

"No un."

"Burbing?"

"Just let out a massive one un."

"I'm lost."

"Join the club un. Where the hell's dad?"

"Your dad is in his study and refusing to come out."

"So much for 'she's my daughter' un."

"I read somewhere that babies like to cry for no reason sometimes, it's actually good for them, ya know, to help expand their lungs or something." Sasori said. "And it's unhealthy to hold them all the time. Let her squirm in the crib, she'll calm down in a few."

Deidara who was so exhausted and willing to try anything at this point didn't argue. He got to his feet and dropped his sister (not really) in her crib, turning on her mobile that rang out some famous lullaby, and turned the light off. He closed the nursery door, Kiri's wails still clearly heard through it, and led Sasori back downstairs, taking the bottle from him.

"Is she asleep?" his mother asked as she looked up from her newspaper.

"Does it sound like she's asleep un?" grumbled Deidara. "Mom, I can't do this anymore, why the fuck did you and dad go and have another baby un when you're not even willing to take care of her un!?"

"Deidara-" his mother began but her son had had enough. He slammed the bottle down on the table in front of her.

"You take care of her for a while un! I'm going out to try and enjoy what little teenage life I have left un!"

He turned around, grabbed Sasori's wrist and dragged him out of the house, slamming the door behind him. Just to freeze on the stoop and go back inside, grabbing their coats, hats and gloves. Even though it was only the end of November, snow was present in the air and dusted the ground making everything look grey, meek and depressing. Deidara wrapped a scarf around his neck as they walked, covering the bottom half of his face and entrapping his long bangs.

"Granny Chiyo is over at a friends playing cards or whatever." Sasori said. "Ya wanna go to my place and get out of this fucking cold?"

"I love her un, but damn it I can only do so much." Deidara said as Sasori handed him a cup of coco.

"Don't feel bad man, one day she'll know that you're her true parent."

"Huh?"

"A person who gives life to you isn't necessarily a parent, it's the person who takes care of you and loves you that's really your parent." Sasori explained, sitting next to Deidara at the kitchen table. "Your folks try but right now both are going through mid life crisis and are handling it differently. You know as well as I that they didn't intend to have another kid, it just happened. And now they're not sure how to handle it. They're lucky as hell you're there other wise I garentee they'd be charged with negligence."

Deidara snorted. "That's an understatement un."

They sat and talked a little more when the conversation turned to Tobi.

"Ya think he's okay?" Sasori asked. "We haven't heard from him or Zetsu since Tuesday when he was sent home early. It's now Friday."

"I'm not worried un." Deidara said sipping his hot chocolate. "Tobi's a kid and all un, but he's tough ya know? He's the only one who can laugh at the Snakes and live to tell about it un."

"That's because he usually runs away." Sasori reminded him. "How's your head by the way?"

"Still hurts un, but I'm fine." Deidara plucked at the cuff of his black turtleneck. His long hair was in a half ponytail and the part that wasn't pulled back draped over his shoulders. His sky blue eye was lined with it's usual thin black eyeliner, somehow looking natural and beautiful. Sasori reached out and put his hand over the blonde's, a small amused grin on his face.

"You'll stretch it out if you keep doing that. What's on your mind, Dei?"

"I don't know why un, but it's bothering me that the cops haven't said anything about what happened to Sarutobi."

"I know what you mean, it's like they just forgot about it. They haven't even come by to ask anymore questions. You'd think they would, especially since it turns out Hidan wasn't the killer. You'd think they'd want to work even harder to find out the truth after that."

"You'd think un." Replied Deidara, not removing his hand from underneath Sasori's.

They sat in silence for a minute before Sasori finally gained his courage.

"What are you hiding under that hair of yours?"

Deidara was startled by the question and turned to look at the red head. "Huh?"

Sasori reached up and tugged playfully at the bangs. "This." He said. "Your face can't possibly be that bad looking to hide half of it, is it?"

"No un!" Deidara shot out annoyed.

"So…"

"I just don't like people staring at me un."

"What?"

Deidara lifted his hand and removed his bangs. His other eye was open and the same blue as his right one, but it had kind of a filmy glazed look to it.

"Your blind?"

"I lost my sight when I was little un. I fell off the jungle gym and I got mulch in my eye un. It only damaged the cornea un but it was still fucking painful. I needed a transplant un but it failed. So where there's a cornea un I can't see nothing but fucking fog un. I keep it covered un so the fog doesn't confuse my over all sight."

"So you're half blind but you can still make those incredible sculptures of yours."

"I still have great vision in my right eye un."

Sasori chuckled. "Well, fogged up eye or not my friend, you are still more beautiful with out the hair in your face."

There was a pause, during with Deidara let his bangs fall back down and looked away, blushing. Sasori though, who was tired of these akward pauses, reached out and turned Deidara's head to look at him.

"You are." He said softly. "I'm not taking it back so you better just get used to it."

Deidara bit his lower lip, grinning slightly. "Right un. And this is the part where my deepest wish comes true un and my best friend finally sees how I feel bout him un."

Sasori raised his eyebrow. "What? That you love me? That you've had a crush on me since middle school? Oh, I noticed."

Deidara blushed. "You knew un?"

"I knew." Said Sasori moving in closer. "I just didn't have the courage to act."

"Act on what un?"

"On my own feelings." Then his lips were on Deidara's.

On Monday when school started again, everyone was in shock. The new kid Sai, according to Shino who lived on his street, was arrested on Wednesday for the murder of Asuma Sarutobi.

"I knew it!" said Sasori as he and Pein walked to Geology. "I didn't think he was when I saw him in the principal's office but when I saw him at then end of English one day, I thought about it and he's the only logical suspect. I mean there hadn't been any killings since he came here, and after he arrived both a teacher and a pet dog turned up dead."

Sai's arrest wasn't the only exciting thing that happened that day though.

"Okay everyone, you have five more weeks on your projects! Make sure all your research is being documented correctly, the actual projects are at least started, and I want the outline of your thesis turned in by the end of next week." Kurenai Yuhi told her class when the bell rang to signal the end of the period.

Zetsu and Shino were the last to leave the class room, Shino because he needed to adjust a thermal lamp over his bug project and Zetsu so he could fix, no joke, hat, scarf, and blanket around his plant. The scarf was twisted around the arms of whatever it was, positioned just so, so it wouldn't damage any of the leaves. The blanket was placed around the base to cover the earth where the roots were planted. The hat sat on top of the plant where a flower would have been. Instead of a flower though, it was a dome, like the head of a Venus fly trap. Unlike a fly trap though, the dome was set in the middle of winding vine like arms that spouted prickly leaves. Like a fly trap though it was a coniferous plant. The other's had seen him feed the thing a box of dead beetles, spiders, aints, and ladybugs, something neither Kidomaru nor Shino could bare to watch.

They had left for lunch and went to classes the remainder of the day. It wasn't till after school, when everyone was hanging around their lockers, that something happened to cause a crowed of students to press up against the walls and teachers to poke their heads out of class rooms.

"YOU BASTARD!" Zetsu was knocked sideways by a fist that seemed to have come from no where. He felt his head hit Hidan's locker door and he stumbled, clutching his head in pain and the wall of lockers for balance.

"What the fuck?" he mumbled. He looked up and saw Shino, uncharacteristically pissed.

"They're dead, they're all dead you fuck. What happened? Couldn't find any more boxes of Buggy Crunch so you feed that thing my project?"

"What are you talking about?" Zetsu grumbled, steadying himself again.

"Don't act stupider than you already are." Kidomaru spat at him. "My spiders are dead too."

"Hey, I haven't been in the Ecology room since class earlier, and I left before Shino did!" Zetsu shot back still rubbing his head. _Damn it that hurt._

Shino and Kidomaru were making their way to grab Zetsu and kick the hell out of him when Kurenai stepped forward.

"It wasn't him boys, I locked the door everytime I walked out and he didn't come back all day, he's telling the truth."

"But his thing eats bugs and ours is gone, how are we to explain that?"

"I don't know, could they have escaped in the school?"

A few standby girls shrieked and started dancing where they stood, looking at the floor in panic. Hidan snickered at them as Shino and Kidomaru assured Kurenai that they had their bugs in glass containers that only humans could open.

"That's creepy." Said Sasori as he, Deidara, Zetsu, Tobi and Pein walked home.

"More than creepy, it's disturbing. Why would anyone want to take bugs?" Zetsu said, his arm around Tobi's shoulders.

"Maybe it was the killer?" Said Pein thoughtfully. He looked over at Tobi. "You okay, man?"

The small boy was quiet all day, very much unlike Tobi. Whenever someone tried talking to him, he would look through them and just shake his head or nod. Zetsu was getting really worried about him. This couldn't just be because of the brawl, could it?

"I'm confused." Sai said as he sat in the cold metal interview room, his hands cuffed on the table in front of him, wearing an orange jumpsuit. "Why do you think I'm the murderer again?"

"Because kid, you were the last one to see him, you have a record from your passed school, and this." Izumo said, pushing a piece of paper over at Sai.

"The record you're referring to wasn't murder." Sai's attorney, a plump woman named Mitsy Kurimo said quietly.

"He put a boy in the hospital for six weeks all because the kid was shouting in his face." Kotetsu snapped.

"He was bragging about being the one who shot my parents." Sai said, never raising his voice or changing his impassive features. His black eyes looked almost dead.

"That's enough, Sai." Ms. Kurimo said softly. "Gentlemen what are you showing us?"

"This," Izumo growled. "was found inside the victim's body, next to his heart, it's a drawing. Why don't we have Mr. Artistic here explain it to you."

Sai drifted his gaze to the drawing, a sketch of Asuma, lying dead and decapitated in a pile of bushes, a shadowy figure with red eyes gleamed from behind the body, holding the man's heart in it's claws. Sai felt his stomach turn in on itself. The red eyes were the only color in the picture. He did not use color. He felt that it took away from the detailing. He also noticed that the darker parts of the picture were done with charcoal. He hated using charcoal on his human drawings, it smudged to easily and eventually covered the details of the person he was trying to capture. He only used it when he was doing an all nature portrait. Whoever drew this picture had copied his drawing style write down to the way he shaded underneath the eyes, but they had also added in their own flare to it. He knew one thing for sure, he did not draw this picture. He opened his mouth to say so but his attorney cut him off.

"What are you offering?" she asked the detectives. Izumo and Kotetsu looked at each other and then at Mitsy.

"Life without parole and that's if the boy is lucky." Said Kotetsu.

FYI: Mitsy Kurimo is a random OC

Deidara: YAY SASORI! *jumps on Sasori*

Sasori: *groaning* not here you idiot

Me: *raises camera* no it's okay Sasori he-he

Zetsu: GIVE ME THAT *snatches camera from writer*

Me: hey…that's not fair!

Lee: HOW DARE YOU BULLY THE ONLY FAN GIRL I HAVE!

Zetsu: *tosses camera to Pein*

Me: *tries to grab it but misses*

AKATSUKI: *starts playing monkey in the middle*

Me: come on guys that's not fair! I'm short okay! Damn it at least lower the damn arc of it! Give it back!

Ino: Well, looks like the writer is kind of pre occupied at the moment so allow me, kind readers, to point your attention to the next chapter! Don't forget to leave a little comment in that box at the bottom of the screen there *points to comment box*

Naruto: Ino how can you tell where the box is?

Ino: because I have special sight no one knows about…I can see EVERYTHING *head turns around creepily*

Sakura: you stayed up watching the Exorcist again didn't you?

Ino: *jumping up and down* I LOVE THAT MOVIE


	9. Chapter 9

Kakashi: ummm you need to wake up now

Me: what happened

Sai: you called Tsunade old

Me: right…anyone do a disclaimer yet?

Naruto: no we were waiting for you to get off your lazy ass and join us

Me: I was knocked out you idiot!

Sakura: looked like you fell asleep

Sasuke: well with a story like this who wouldn't?

Me: DISCLAIMER NOW! *turns to characters who hasn't done it yet and all back away points to one* YOU SPEAK!

Hinata: umm…Ghostwritter9396 does not own Naruto

Sakura: big shock, doubt she could come up with anything remotely as good as it

Me: *glares at Sakura* you wanna go for round two pinky?

Tenten: let's just get on with the story, I'm sure the readers are dying to know what's going to happen next

Sakura: the only thing they're dying to do is get to the end of this piece of crap

Me: THAT'S IT! *dives at Sakura and cloud of smoke hides fight as cat sounds are heard*

Neji: *arms crossed looks over at readers* just read *turns to other characters* put me down for the writer *Kakuzu collects Neji's bet*

High School Is Murder

By: Ghostwritter9396

Ch. 9

"I'm giving up band."

Silence followed Tayuya's words as she and the others walked out of the band room. Zaku, Kin and Jugo looked at her shocked.

"Ebisu's just getting too creepy for me." She continued.

"But, you're the best flute player we have." Splutterd Zaku. Kin though, nodded at her boyfriend.

"That's the problem though, babe. She's drawing too much attention."

"Zaku and I don't pay any attention to her." Jugo said confused.

"We mean too much attention from the teacher." Tayuya said. "You guys are guys so you wouldn't get it. But Ebisu is perverted and frankly, I'm surprised he's still allowed to teach. Kin did you hear that he and Jiraiya were caught trying to peek into the girls' changing rooms?"

Kin shuddered. "It wouldn't surprise me. Hinata told me that Jiraiya only volunteered to coach the swim team so he could see pretty girls in swimsuits." She laughed hollowly. "Apparently he wasn't too thrilled to see that he had three boys and only one girl."

"Yeah, but he got Hinata. You ever see her in a suit? Totally passes me why she goes around covered up all the time. A body like hers, it's almost a crime not to show it off."

Kin slammed her fist in the back of Zaku's head. "You're just as bad as the twins and Suigetsu." She snarled.

"Are they still bothering her?" Jugo asked. Tayuya nodded.

"They cornered her after lunch yesterday and Naruto was this close to beating their heads in with his lunch tray." She said sadly.

"Should I go after them?"

Kin laughed. "I did threaten to sick you on them if they didn't back up. But in all honesty, guys, this is her fight. As much as we'd all like to help her, she needs to stand up for herself. If she keeps hiding behind others she'll never get rid of them for good."

Hinata was in tears. She had finally snapped. It was her algebra class and who did she have the class with? None other than Suigetsu. The twins thank god had geometry. She was copying a graph that showed the mean of all the numbers X could represent when she felt air on the back of her neck. Turning around she saw Suigetsu leaning over her shoulder, apparently reading her notes. He smirked and whispered in her ear. She felt her face flush and through gritted teeth told him to go fuck himself. He sat back laughing quietly.

"Suigetsu." Baki said turning from the black board to look at the young man who had a hand over his mouth. "Is there something amusing about what I just said?"

"No." Suigetsu snorted.

After class he leaned against Hinata's desk, arms crossed, as she shoved her books into her bag.

"Albeit amusing, Mermaid, that was a very mean thing to say." He told her calmly, eyes closed, a smirk on his face. "I was just giving you a complement after all."

_Complementing a girl's ass is not the key to winning her heart._ Hinata thought, her hands shaking so violently she was having trouble zipping up her bag.

"Suigetsu, get going or you'll be late for your next class." Baki barked at him. After the boy left the teacher approached Hinata. She instinctively put her guard up, Baki was known for his own crude comments; they weren't as off handed as Kakashi's or as straight forward as Jiraiya's or Ebisu's, but still spine tingling.

"Hinata, this can't go on." Baki told her. "We all see it, why do you let them hound you like that?"

She hadn't expected that. "I'm fine, Sir." She said.

"Clearly you're not. Being strong is not keeping everything bottled up, it's letting other's helping you when you need it. There's no shame in that. You're a pretty girl, Hinata, probably the prettiest that ever walked these halls, and you'll never not have someone ogling you. You need to learn how to deal with it or it'll keep getting worse. I'm here if you want to talk about it. Or better yet, why not go talk to Kurenai? I know the two of you are close."

"Really, I'm fine, Sir." She said again. "I umm..I have to go, have a good day." She rushed out of the class room.

"I'm here if you want to talk about it." Those had been his last words to her. He had been the first one to notice, he had been the one to ask her the day before he died. Asuma Sarutobi had figured out that the twins and Suigetsu were harassing her and she had broken down. She had cried and admitted everything, how they cornered her and said unnerving comments, how they would put their hands on her when she didn't respond or see them coming. She had talked a full half hour, explaining that it had been going on for two years, ever since their first swim meet together. She had been emotionally exhausted afterwards and he had promised that the next day, they would go to Tsunade's office together and tell her about it. But the next day, he had died. She could not tell anyone else, or look like she was. As long as the twins and Suigetsu thought she was keeping her mouth shut, they wouldn't kill anyone else. She hadn't thought they were killers until that day at the mall. When they had laughed after she threatened to report them again.

"Yeah, cuz that worked out so well last time."

No, she couldn't complain, she couldn't be responsible for another death.

"Out of all the fucking teachers in this school," snarled Ino shoving her books in her bag as she and Temari left Iruka's English class. "why the hell did that prick have to target the only non perverted bastard?" both girls flinched as they heard Iruka make a suggestive fare well comment to a passing brunet. "I mean, that was just painful." She continued. "Why doesn't Tsunade just fire the entire bunch and get all girl teachers?"

"She probably doesn't want to go through the trouble of replacing all of them. She had enough trouble with Asuma's replacement." Temari sighed.

This was true enough. For a while the calculus class had been covered by a substitute named Raido Namiashi, but after a few weeks a new teacher took the job full time; a cool headed guy named Yamato. He, so far, didn't seem perverted, but as they say 'only time will tell'.

Sakura sat in the front office, shuffling papers and taking down messages. She wasn't surprised that no one hadn't believed her rape story. After all, it had taken quite a bit of rehearsal in front of the bathroom mirror before she believed it herself, but that didn't stop her from trying. She was still holding on to it, if for no other reason than to just keep up a believable face. She looked up when a tall black haired boy walked up to her, holding a sandwich and bottle of water.

"Here." He said, dropping them on her desk.

"Thanks Sasuke." She sighed wearily. "Aren't you going to eat though?"

"I'm not hungry." He brushed his bangs out of his eyes and Sakura narrowed her own sea green ones.

"What's that?" she asked quietly, staring at the still bruised wrist.

"I got it the other day when I fought one of the Akatsuki gang." He told her calmly. "Nothing to worry about."

"I didn't hear of a new fight. You guys have been kind of quiet the past week or so. Nothing's happened since before break."

"That bastard Kisame and I got into it when he was over at my house visiting my brother."

She relaxed her face a little. "Itachi let him go after you?"

"Itachi and I aren't on good terms right now. Eat your lunch Sakura, I'll see you after school." He bent down and kissed her before walking away.

As she was eating her sandwich, she over heard Tsunade talking on the phone in her office.

"I see." She was saying. "And the drawing confirms premeditated murder? Oh. Where was it found? Inside the body? My god. Well, thank you for updating me. The funeral will be when? The week before Christmas? I'll make sure to let the students know. Yes, she's holding up. I offered her a few days off work after it happened but she was determined to work through it. Yes, the boy's doing better also. Our guidance councilor introduced him to a good therapist, I believe Kurenai is seeing the same one. Thank you for your concern, Sargent Kamizuki, we'll see you at the memorial service, goodbye."

"Inside the body?"

"Yeah, that's what I heard."

"No, I heard that it was shoved in his mouth."

"I heard it was a suicide note that was clutched in his hand. Turns out not to have been a murder after all."

"Use your brains moron, there's no way in hell that he could have done that to himself."

"I heard the drawing was of him molesting the new kid Sai and that showed that Sai was just defending himself."

"No, the drawing was of the murder, that's how they knew Sai killed him."

"No way, it was-"

And more and more stories drifted through the halls of Konaho High about the new details of the murder of Asuma Sarutobi.

"How the hell did they find out I was in therapy?" grumbled Shikamaru as he slammed his locker door shut.

"Beats me, bro." Choji said, munching on his omnipresent chips.

"Don't let it bother you, Shikamaru." Ino said. She put a hand on his shoulder. "I know you better than just about anyone and I know you don't let people get under your skin, just brush it off like you usually do." Being Shikamaru's god sister there was truth to what she said.

"Besides, you knew the real Asuma, don't let what these assholes say ruin that." Choji said.

"Yeah, that's what my therapist said." Shikamaru sighed.

"Hey! Choji! Shikamaru!" Naruto, Kiba, Shino, Lee and Gaara walked up to them.

"Hey." The other two boys said as Ino, after giving Choji a kiss and a wave to the others, ran off to find the girls.

Lee laughed. "Go Choji. When did you score that siren?"

Choji felt his cheeks burn. "She's not a siren." He said. "At least not as much as Sakura. And it just sort of happened after that memorial thing we all did after Sarutobi's death. A lot of people got together that night. Gaara and Lee, you got together, right?"

Gaara and Lee looked at each other blushing.

"Hana and Kankura hooked up that night too." Choji continued.

"No they didn't." Gaara said still scarlet in the face, making his pale skin look like it had a severe sunburn. "At least not like that, they just started going out and talking on the phone all night."

"How do you know that?" Kiba asked surprised. "The talking all night thing I mean."

"Insomnia." Was the only reply.

"Anyways, Naruto, what'd ya want?" asked Shikamaru hoisting his bag up over his shoulder, his black v-neck lifting a little to show the bottom half of his green undershirt. He pulled it down over the top of his jeans again.

"Did you hear? Tsunade is going to have a memorial assembly this Friday." Naruto said.

"But his funeral isn't until next Saturday." Shikamaru said in surprise.

"Yeah, but we'll be on vacation then, so she's doing it this week." Shino said.

"Leave me alone!"

All the boys turned to see Hinata walking firmly their way, head bent down, arms clutching a text book. The twins and Suigetsu following her.

"Hey, come back Mermaid!" Ukon shouted.

"Yeah, we'll behave, we promise." Called out Suigetsu.

"We just wanna talk!" laughed Sakon. Hinata kept walking.

Suigetsu reached out and grabbed her shoulder. She twisted away, only to find that she had twisted right into Ukon's open arms.

"Hey!" Naruto and Kiba shouted at the same time.

Ukon slipped his arm under her's and pinned her to his side. She looked up at him, terrified tears sparkling in her wide hazel eyes.

"You can't see it Mermaid, but you can still feel that hot body of yours through these heavy sweatshirts you wear."

They were standing in a small alcove under the stairs, out of sight of the immediate crowd. Ukon slipped his hand under her shirt and she roughly pushed it back out.

"That wasn't very nice, Mermaid." He said.

"Neither is this you fucking bastard." Naruto snarled as he ran up and punched Ukon in the stomach. Before he or anyone else could retaliate though, Suigetsu had grabbed Hinata who had tried to run for it.

"Your friends are very mean." He breathed in her ear, his nose pressed to her hair, inhaling deeply. He had her pinned to his side, his hand clamped on her waist. He didn't try to feel under her shirt like Ukon had, but his hand was slowly moving up. Naruto glared at him, afraid to move incase the son of a bitch did something to really hurt her. He watched the hand go up and up until it was at the base of her breast, and then-

"That hand goes up one more centimeter and you'll find yourself looking for a new one."

They all looked around to see Pein, Kisame, Kakuzu, Hidan and Sasori standing there.

"I suggest you let her go now." Pein said calmly, his arms crossed over his black t-shirt.

"Make me." Suigetsu smirked. Wrong thing to say.

Kakuzu moved so fast no one saw what happened until Suigetsu was pinned up against the wall, his face being punched in. Sakon punched Kakuzu off of Suigetsu and Hidan kicked him back before he could do any more damage. Ukon lept at Hidan but Naruto gave him another punch in the gut causing him to fall to the floor gasping for air.

"What the hell is going on here?"

"Self defense." Pein said.

Hinata had been let go and now she was crying on the floor, her arms wrapped tightly around herself. Naruto lifted her to her feet and held her tightly, allowing her tears to soak his layered shirt.

Tsunade's eyes almost look like they were on fire. The twins and Suigetsu stepped back but she shook her head. "Oh no boys, my office, NOW! That goes for all of you!"

Hinata fidgeted uncomfortably on the sofa in the principal's office. Tsundade had spoken to everyone else, spoken to them individually to hear the story from all angles, and had decided to not punish the Akatsuki members or Naruto. She did however write up the twins and Suigetsu for sexual harassment and then she had called Hinata in. Now Hinata sat in the silence waiting for to hear what the principal had to say.

"Why didn't you say anything about this before now? Why did you let it get this far?"

Hinata winced as if the woman had smacked her.

"I…I did Ma'am. I told…I told…Asuma the day before he…I was afraid to after that because I was afraid they would…I didn't want anyone else to die." She mumbled. Tsunade didn't smile but her face softened a bit.

"You realize that people like that only have power if their victems remain silent, right?" she asked calmly. Hinata shook her head.

"I didn't remain silent and they still killed Asuma." She whispered.

"Hinata, they didn't kill Asuma Sarutobi, the police confirmed that it was Sai."

"I don't think it was him. I can't prove it, but why else would Asuma be the one that was killed, right after I asked him for help. He told me that he would help me talk to you the next day, only that was the day he died. I think he was waiting till after school but he never got the chance." Now she was crying. "I told and so he died. It's my fault."

Tsunade walked over and sat down next to Hinata, holding her gently and stroking her haid.

"It wasn't your fault, Dear." She said comfortingly. "The person who killed Asuma is a very sick person who needs help. This horrible thing has nothing to do with you, alright?"

"Hey, we're getting together tonight, you in?" Zetsu asked Tobi over the phone. Tobi looked at the clock and shuttered. It was getting close to nine o'clock. It was either go hang with the guys or the other option. He chose the guys.

"I'll be there in ten." He told his boyfriend.

It was thirty minutes before Tobi showed up.

"Hey, there ya are kid, what kept you? Usually you're running over here like we've got a million bucks ta give ya." Laughed Hidan.

"Sorry!" laughed Tobi, who was starting to act like his old self at last. "Dad caught me leaving and we got into it again."

"Parents are bastards aren't they un?" said Deidara handing Tobi a coke. Tobi sat on the floor by Zetsu's feet and cracked his can open, nodding in agreement.

When Sasori came by he sat next to Deidara, kissing him hello for the first time in front of the guys, letting them all know without a single word. Deidara blushed but kissed him back as there was hoops and hollers from the other boys. Konan who decided to join the party beamed and clapped with the others.

"ABOUT FUCKING TIME!" laughed Kisame and Hidan together.

"So, let's see." Said Pein, smilling through his many facial piercings. Some of the boys inwardly winced, the smile looked painful, probably why the kid didn't do it very much. "The killer's been caught, Hinata's stalker issue is taken care of, and now the two most painfully obvious couple has finally grown some brains and gotten together. I'd say that's a pretty good reason to celebrate." The all laughed.

"We have to go without the weed man, sorry." Zetsu sighed.

"Why?" chorused disappointing and, in Pein's and Hidan's case, pissed off voices.

"Because the last batch I tried growing got snow on it. There was a fucking leak in my attack roof!" cried out Zetsu, slumping in his seat. "And we don't have booze either because my dad found my fake license and now I have to get a new one which will take a while."

"Yup, parent's are definitely bastards." Sighed Kakuzu.

"Anyone else got a license?" asked Itachi but they all shook their heads.

"We can still celebrate, just not with dope or sauce." Said Tobi. "It's probably better this way anyways, because you know we have the assembly tomarrow."

They all nodded in grudging agreement. Kakuzu flipped through CD's stacked next to an old boom box and cranked up the sound so the alternative rock mix he picked out pumped through the entire building. Tobi passed Newport's around to everyone and Kisame and Sasori had a fight about who was going to go pick up the pizza. By the end of the night all of them were sober, down to earth, and having the time of their life.

Suigetsu, Sakon, Ukon: *all wearing striped prison uniforms hammering at rocks* we were having fun bitch

Me: *still trying to get camera back* I know that's why I had you assholes get caught. GIVE IT BACK!

AKATSUKI: *laughs*

Kisame: what and ruin all this fun?

Hidan: Not a chance bitch

Tobi: crazed fangirl-sama isn't having fun?

Me: *growls and types on keybord*

AKATSUKI: *all start doing the Macarana* BITCH!

Me: *snatches up camera laughing and holding it above head* VICTORY IS MINE!

Stewie (from Family Guy): Did you-? You did didn't you? How dare you steal my line

Sasuke: don't take it personally she can't come up with anything original

Me: *punches Sasuke out* shut up Uchiha

Naruto: *to readers* I'd make my escape if I were you, quick before she goes off again

Me: I'm offended Naruto, I don't just go off, I have to be pissed before that

Naruto: which is all the time

Me: no, not ALL the time, just 99 percent of it he-he

Kin: *to readers* anyways guys don't forget to comment! 


	10. Chapter 10

Me: *dark circles under eyes and bruises on knuckles* I hate insomnia

Tenten: you're telling me you're not even fully awake and you still WON!

Lee: that is because of the power of youth!

Me: *groaning* no…that's the power of too much stress and caffeine

Kakuzu: *counting money from bet* it's amazing how many people had more faith in a blind girl over a trained shinobi…better turn the tables next time if I'm to get more profit

Me: *eyeing Kakuzu* yeah…right…*turns to others* disclaimers? Sakura?

Sakura: *lies unconscious on floor, drool hanging out of open mouth*

Me: No? Okay then, Shizune?

Shizune: Ghostwritter9396 doesn't own naruto or any characters affiliated with the show

Tonton: oink *shakes head sadly*

Me: don't mess with me pig

Tonton: oink?

Me: I heard what you said

Tonton: oink?

Me: *evil tired grin* breakfast is sounding really good right now…I think I smell bacon

Toton: OINK!

Me: *starts chasing pig* here bacon bacon bacon

Tsunade: Tonton! *starts chasing writer chasing pig*

Shizune: *sighs* here's the next chapter everyone, enjoy! *joins chase* Put him down he's not your breakfast!

Tonton: OINK!

Tsunade: Don't bite him!

Shizune: Tonton come here! *lots of banging sounds are heard*

High School Is Murder

By: Ghostwritter9396

Ch. 10

"JHC."

There were two victims, a husband and wife, murdered in bed. Over kill, massive over kill.

"Who were they?" Izumo whispered.

"Don't you mean what were they? Can you even tell they used to be human?" Kotetsu couldn't take his eyes off the crime scene. There was blood everywhere, on the sheets, on the headboard, on the walls, on the floor. He closed his eyes and all he saw was blood. His head started to swim and he stepped out for a minute to compose himself. Now, prepared this time, he walked back in. Izumo was examining the body, or rather remains, of the wife.

"You okay?" he asked, looking up at Kotetsu.

"Are you?" Kotetsu shot back. There was a pause. "Okay, Aoba, what do we have here?"

"Meet Mr. and Mrs. Suiba, age 37 and 34, murdered, obviously, in early morning; around 5:15 am. Although, with the bodies being in the conditions they are, rigger is hard to read, but that's what I've assessed for the time being. The perp was brutal. Who ever did this, he's no human, he's an animal." Aoba said, a strict official tone in his voice, as if he was forcing himself to focus only on the facts and not on the emotional impact of the scene. All three men just had to look at each other to know that none of them had seen a scene this horrific in years, maybe ever.

"We can see that, Aoba." Whispered Izumo. "What happened here?"

"The bastard went for Mrs. Suiba first. After tying and gaging both of them that is. Most likely Mr. Suiba woke up but found he couldn't do anything. The perp cut their arms first, not at any vital points, he wanted them to suffer, which they did believe me. He castrated the husband, right before killing him. Compared to the rest this man suffered before that, it wouldn't have hurt nearly as much as we'd think. He sliced off the breasts of Mrs. Suiba and penetrated her with some sort of sharp object, most likely the knife he used to botch them. Again, that came right before death. On both vics he gutted, sliced layers of skin off of the ribs, broke each rib individually with what looks like the pliers we found by the bed, broke both arms and legs, and decapitated both postmortem. Cause of death, he squeezed their hearts."

"Come again?" said Kotetsu weakly.

"He took both hearts out of the chest cavity, and squeezed them until it burst."

There was sickening silence, as everyone in the room, coroner, tech crew, detectives, tried to digest this horrible image without fainting or puking their guts out.

"We have a problem." Aoba said, finally bringing everyone's attention to what they didn't want to hear. "This confirms a cereal killer. The chopping off the heads postmortem, the decapitation was in the papers, but not that it had been postmortem; we kept that silent." He held up two pieces of paper. "We also found these inside the chest cavities, but their not drawings." He handed them over to Izumo and Kotetsu who took them with gloved hands. There eyes widen as they read the typed messages smeared with blood, making the black letters look evil, as if they had been typed on red paper instead of white. The note found in Mrs. Suiba said: _Betrayer of trust and love._ The one that had been found in Mr. Suiba said: _Abuser of trust and love._ Neither was signed.

"They have a son, but he wasn't home last night, thank god." Said Aoba, looking sadly down at the victems. "Who ever wrote those notes, you're not thinking the son, are you?"

"That's the only logical conclusion." Muttered Izumo. "Who else would type notes like these?"

Aoba shrugged. "The boy goes to Konaho High School." He told the detectives who nodded and headed to the school.

"You think he also capped the teacher?" Kotetsu asked as Izumo backed the car out of the Suiba's drive way.

"I don't want to think about it. If it turns out that we not only arrested the wrong kid once, but twice, we can kiss our jobs goodbye."

"Not really though, only the first one was a leap. We had hard core evidence that pointed to the Sai kid, and I'm still not convinced this isn't a copy cat. It might not have been in the papers, but I assure you those kids at the school knew, or at least suspected. That Hidan boy had all the details because of our questioning him, remember? He could have blabbed about it, Lord know's he's sick enough to do something like that."

The boy ran a hand through his hair, breathing out hard. He did not want to play this game anymore, he tried saying this but it wouldn't come out. _They need to pay. _But for what? _They are evil, beating up on each other, beating up on you. They all need to pay. _But my friends. _They failed you, I will avenge you. _But I don't need avenging. _Yes, you do. Because you are dead. _But, I'm not dead. I'm alive, walking and breathing, see. The boy breathed out again, harder. _No, that's me breathing, you're dead. I'm alive now, not you._ What? NO! I'm alive, I'm still me. _No, you're not. I'm the one who is alive, I am the one who is in control now. You are nothing, you always have been nothing. I am the one who is alive and you are the one trapped in the dead zone._

"Zetsu!"

"Tobi, hey there you are, we were getting worried." Zetsu said happily, as the smaller boy jumped on him. Zetsu ruffled Tobi's messy black hair and then pulled him close to his side. "Nice to see you're acting normal again, kid."

"I thought you got mad when I jumped on you."

"I thought so too, until you stopped doing it." Laughed Zetsu. Tobi grinned up at him as Zetsu kissed the top of his head.

"Hey kid, bout time you got here, we would've had to sell your seat to a Snake if you didn't show up when you did." Laughed Hidan. Zetsu, who sat behind him in the bleachers, smacked Hidan's head with the back of his hand.

"Not funny, sicko."

The whole school was gathering for the memorial assembly. Dr. Tsunade had set up a microphone in the middle of the gym and she was now adjusting it, getting ready to start things. As the last of the students drifted in, she turned to face all 6,498 of them.

"We are gathering today for those of you who would like to say a few words about our beloved teacher, Asuma Sarutobi. Because there are so many of us I ask that you indeed keep it at a few words so as to keep the line moving. Also, there are those of you who might not fully appreciate the solemn atmosphere right now, I'm warning each and every one of you, gang member or not, that if you make one disturbance during this ceremony, he or she will be expelled with no questions asked, so if you still don't care, walk out of here now and let those of us who do want to remember Asuma do so in peace."

There was a silence before Jirobo, Kimimaru, Dosu and Orochimaru quietly slipped out of the back doors.

The principal cleared her throat, she hadn't really expected anyone to leave but she was glad to see that even those four had enough brains not to test her word today.

"With that said," she began. "I will start the memorial by saying that I have rarely met a man as great as Asuma Sarutobi. He was a teacher, a future husband and father to be, and a most of all a friend to everyone he knew and loved. His values and teachings live on with us, through his memory we will live and strive to better ourselves as we do so." She stepped down and behind her came Shizune, then Anko, then Ebisu, then Jiraiya, then Gai, then Iruka, then Rin.

"Asuma was one of the best friends I ever had or ever will have." Kakashi was now saying. "His memory will be with me until the day I die, and I hope the same goes for the rest of you. He was a true example of the best of humanity."

Behind Kakashi stood Kurenai, who was holding on to Shikamaru's arm for support as she stepped up to the mike.

"Asuma Sarutobi," she began. "was not only a teacher, but a man who loved-" but here she broke down. Tsunade and Shizune rushed forward and helped her find her seat again, her thin shoulders heaving with sobs as she allowed them to lead her.

"I couldn't say it." She gasped. "I couldn't tell what kind of man he was."

"Sshh, it's okay, Kurenai. Shikamaru's speaking now, you know he'll say the right words for the both of you." Shizune said comfortingly, gently pushing Kurenai into a chair along side the wall next to Gai. Gai put an arm around her shoulders and allowed her to rest her head on his.

"Asuma Sarutobi," Shikamaru's voice rang out, cracked but determined. "can only be defined as a teacher. I knew him from the day I could walk. He and my dad had become close during my infancy, shortly after I was born. He was like a second godfather. He taught me how to play chess, he taught me, as he did most of you, math. But he also taught about life, about how precious it is and how we shouldn't take it for granite, while at the same time not denying ourselves simple pleasures. He taught most of this, not through his words, but through his actions. He was not a perfect man, but he was a man who perfected himself with each mistake, a point I believe was his greatest lesson he taught me. I will keep his memory with me for ever and be sure to pass it on, in my own way, to as many people as I can. He always told me that as long as a person's memory is kept and there's at least one person who has benefited from his life, then that person will never truly die. It is only when a person passes through life and leaves behind no memories that he is truly dead. I don't know about you, but I know I have benefited from Asuma Sarutobi's life, and so even though he has been physically taken from us, he will never be dead."

A silence rang out as Shikamaru Nara stepped down from the mike, then applause broke out.

Maybe it was because of the applause, or because everyone's attention was focused so intently on the stage, but somehow no one noticed the gym door opening, not one person registered a boy dressed all in black, red eyes gleaming in the half light of the gym raise a gun and shoot out the lights over head.

Screams rang in the air as glass from the light coverings fell in shards upon the crowd of students and teachers.

The Akatsuki dove to cover themselves and anyone else in the nearest vicinity.

"Where's Tobi!" cried Zetsu, frantically looking around as kids started stampeding down the bleacher steps and running out of the doors on either side of the gym. Teachers were trying to gain control, Tsunade was shouting herself hoarse, kids were crying and screaming. It was, in short, pandemonium.

BANG! BANG!

Two more shots rang in the air. Zetsu saw Neji Hyuga fall to the ground, clutching his leg in pain. He saw Tenten, Hinata, a small girl who looked like she could be HInata's sister, and Naruto all bend over him. Of course, there had been four middle schoolers who had come to participate. Asuma's nephew, Konohamaru, Udon, Moegi, and Hinata's sister Hinabi. Zetsu was surprised he remembered their names. Naruto had introduced the Akatsuki guys to them shortly before the ceremony.

"Where's Tobi damn it!" he was starting to panic now.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Teachers and students were fleeing now, it was everyone for themselves. A few people were running in search of friends, finding them, and dragging them out of the chaos, but mostly it was just screams. Screams and banging.

In the thirty minutes it had taken to gather everyone in the gym and get them quiet for the memorial, it had only taken three minutes to clear all but a hand full of students and all the teachers. Tsunade was the only adult left in the gym but she was soon ordered out.

"I'm not leaving!" she barked.

"You will or they die."

She sucked in a sharp breath then slowly backed out of the gym, never taking her eyes off the boy with the gun.

Now the students left in the gym were Neji, Tenten, Lee, Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Konohamaru, Udon, Moegi, Hinabi, the entire Akatsuki gang and Kabuto, Jugo, Kidomaru, Zaku, Tayuya and Kin from the Snakes.

"Big crowd." Said the boy, moving his unblinking red eyes from one pale face to the next. "Line up against the wall there, move it!"

"T-Tobi?" gasped Zetsu, his eyes widening in horror.

"Try again." Smirked the boy, definitely not Tobi's voice. It sounded like his, but it had a sharp cutting edge to it now. Tobi Suiba's voice never sounded like that.

"Against the wall, now!" he barked again.

"What the hell?" muttered Izumo as he drove into the school's parking lot. He and Kotetsu watched as what looked like the whole school flooded out of the building. The detectives jumped out of their car and ran to the crowd.

"Tsunade!" Kotetsu gasped as they finally reached the building. The principal was the last to leave, her eyes streaming with tears.

"He's got them." She said hoarsely.

"Who?" Izumo asked.

"I don't- he didn't look farmilar."

"What do you mean got them?" asked Kotetsu as Izumo read the general situation and turned to call Dispatch for reinforcements.

Before Tsunade could answer a few more shots were heard from inside the school. 

ALL CHARACTERS: holy shit!

Me: that's it?

Pein: what else do you want us to say to that?

Naruto: what else CAN we say to that?

Tobi: Tobi wants a cookie

EVERYONE ELSE: NO!

Tobi: but…Tobi's a good boy…

Zetsu: did you even read this chapter?

Tobi: *scans page* and….?

AKATSUKI: *sweat drop heads down and sighs*

Deidara: you're NOT a good boy Tobi! You're shooting a fucking gun!

Tobi: ….and…..?

Me: *face palms* just…hit the next button and read on guys….he's not gonna get it….


	11. Chapter 11

Sorry guys, I forgot to say that Karin and Hana are also trapped in the gym...lol I was half asleep when I wrote the last chapter...but this one is good!

Me: *rubbing back of head laughing akwardly* sorry about that Tonton

Tonton: *an X bandage on his side* oink

Tsunade and Shizune: *glare at me*

Me: *coughs* umm….right…okay then….disclaimer?

Gaara: writer does not own Naruto

Me: *grins widely* but I do own any OC's you happen to see!

Sasuke: doubt it

Me: *still grinning* you really wanna go a round with me pretty boy?

Sasuke: *turning around to walk away* you're not worth the time

Me: *tight grin* why you little

Temari: *holding writer back from jumping on Sasuke* okay then on with the show! *grumbles under breath* what are we going to do with you

Me: *still trying to get to Sasuke shouting and kicking*

Karin: yeah, yeah shut up already

High School Is Murder

By: Ghostwritter9396

Ch. 11

"KIBA!"

Shino's and Hana's voices rang in the heavy silence that followed the sound of the gun.

Kiba hit the floor on his knees, clutching his shoulder in pain, blood trailing between his shaking fingers, painting his blue v-neck a dark purple. He gritted his teeth, refusing to give this bastard the satisfaction of hearing him cry out. Hana and Shino glared at Tobi, who was calmly pacing in front of the line of students. Konohamaru, Udon, Hinabi and Moegi were all crying, tears running down their cheeks as they huddled around Naruto, Hinata, Tenten and a painting Neji. He was sitting on the floor, a hand still pressed to his leg that oozed blood. It ran thickly down his jeans and dripped from the cuff, splattering his Rebox and the polished gym floor.

"I told you to line up against the wall, I did not tell you to call anyone." Tobi said smirking a terrifying maniacal smirk. His eyes, though still round, were red and the pupils were smaller, a mad glint shining in them. "This is kind of like, Simon Says. I'm Simon and everything I say you have to do, anything that isn't said, is a forbidden act." His eyes traveled over their faces.

"Come on, Tobi." Kakuzu said softly. "What are you doing?"

"This isn't like you, kid, what's going on inside that head of yours?" Zetsu muttered.

"Heee…HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Tobi let out a hair rising screech of laughter, soft at first and then bursting out in a pitch of sound that sent shivers running to the very core of every cell in everyone's bodies, including Hidan's. When that boy gets freaked you know you're in trouble.

"What's so funny?" asked Naruto, keeping an arm around Konohamaru, forcing him back behind him a little.

"You don't get it do you? And you called Tobi an idiot! HAHAHA! He's gone you morons! Tobi Suiba is dead!"

A silence followed this.

"No, no, you're Tobi. You're not dead, you're alive." Konan whispered, trying to walk forward but Pein was holding her back, his hazel eyes never leaving Tobi. They were hard with concentration. He was trying to read the situation and figure away out of this mess.

"NO!" Tobi's voice no longer sounded amused, it was hard and cold and demonic. "I'M IN CONTROL NOW! TOBI IS GONE!"

"Okay, kid, alright we hear you." Said Kisame.

"If you're not Tobi, then who the hell are ya? The Tooth fairy?" asked Kidomaru. He was holding Tayuya who was glaring at Tobi with venom in her eyes.

BANG! BANG!

Kidomaru fell to the floor, clutching his right side and left shoulder. Tayuya snarled but fear of the gun held her where she stood. There was no telling how many bullets that bastard had in his jacket.

"My name is Madara, you'd do well to remember it."

Itachi felt like he had been punched senseless. This is not real. He was dreaming having a nightmare.

"Good, you're here." Izumo turned to a tall man with dark brown hair and beard, thick bangs falling over his right eye.

"Do we have contact?" Yuura asked as he ran up to Izumo, Kotetsu and Tsunade. They all shook their heads. Yuura turned to the principal. "Can we make a call to the room the shooter's in?"

"He's in the gym, but I don't know if he'll answer." She said weakly.

"Can you tell us anything about this kid?"

"He didn't look farmilar, but if I had to guess at who he is I'd say he's one of the Akatsuki."

"Akatsuki?"

"One of the two gangs that attend school here. I'd expect something like this from the other gang, the Snakes, but not the Akatsuki. They're just lazy defiant little bastards who usually stick to themselves."

"Could they all be in on this little stunt?" Yuura asked her. She shook her head.

"That, I don't believe. The boy acted alone and none of the others started assisting him when everything started."

"Alright, so we don't even know this kid's name, is that what you're telling us?" she nodded. Yuura sighed. Then he turned to the others. "See if we can get a line set up to the phone in the gym. Let's move it!"

"Don't worry." Kotetsu told Tsunade gently. "Yuura's one of the best negotiators this city's got, he'll get 'em out alright."

It was a coincidence, it had to be. Madara could not be standing in front of him right now. Itachi just couldn't wrap his mind around it.

"Some of you," Tobi, or rather Madara, said coolly as his gaze drifted to the middle schoolers. "are completely innocent."

"Then why don't you let them go?" Tenten snarled.

"Let them go?" asked Madara as if this had never even crossed his warped mind.

"If they haven't done anything, then why punish them?" asked Hinata nervously, her arms around her younger sister who was staring wide eyed at the gun.

"Why not let them go?" Madara said again, slowly, as if he had to get used to the idea. "Why would I want to?"

"You bastard! You just said they were innocent!" shouted Kiba through his teeth. His eyes went to his cell phone that had dropped beside him. Madara hadn't taken it.

"True, but then again, neither had Tobi."

_What is this guy talking about?_ Was the main thought running though all their heads as they stared at the boy dressed in black pacing before them.

"Tobi did nothing wrong, and yet, they didn't let him go. The bastard invaded him almost every night, hurting him, causing him to scream out, call out for me. The bitch heard his cries but she never came. Tobi told her, but she slapped him whenever he said it. Tobi was innocent, but yet, he was killed. So, why should I let them go?"

Now they knew what kind of monster they were dealing with. A heartless one. One that had been molded by the worst kind of monsters out there. He was cold, emotionless, blood thirsty. He was right, he wasn't Tobi Suiba. Tobi could never be this evil, with his warming smile, loveable albeit annoying nature, his round laughing eyes, they were all gone. Zetsu gritted his teeth. He felt hands on his shoulders and he looked around, Sasori and Deidara were holding him, preventing him from moving. They had seen it in his eyes. The desire to destroy this thing that had destroyed Tobi.

Deidara was panicking inside his head, although he kept his cool on the surface. All he could think of was getting out of here, he needed to get home and be with his sister, she needed him to get out of here. _Kiri, I'm coming._

Itachi was watching Madara in horror. This couldn't be happening. That's all he could think.

"Let them go, you'd still have us. Just let them go so they don't have to suffer like Tobi." Ino said gently.

Madara sighed. They still didn't get it. Oh well, only one way to show them. He raised the gun and aimed.

"UDON!"

Udon, who had the least cover because of Neji's condition slumped to the ground, a patch of red covering his white shirt, spreading like poison.

Moegi and Konohamaru started crying loudly, Hinabi just stood there in shock, unable to take it all in. This wasn't happening. This wasn't happening. She felt her body shaking, her heart pounding. Then, all at once, it got very quiet.

"Hinabi?" Hinata felt her sister go limp in her arms. She had fainted.

"You mother fucking son of a damn bitch!" shouted Lee. His dark round eyes were set with furry.

"Don't let them die!" Ino begged. "You have us, you can get what ever you want! Let them go!"

Madara looked over at the smaller boy, out cold on the wall. Neji, now ignoring his own wound, pressed both hands over the boy's chest, trying to stop the blood from taking his life away with it. His shot had been good, the boy will die and they soon will get it. It didn't matter if the kids stayed or not anymore.

"Fine, but they only have a minute to run out of here. Simon says, run for your life kiddies."

Hidan: WTF? I NEVER GET FREAKED OUT!

Pein: *to writer* you can't just end it there you bitch what happens? Do they make it?

Me: *grinning* you'll just have to find out

Tobi: but…it's so scary now….what happened to the funny parts?

Kisame: hate to agree with Tobi but yeah, enough with this dark depressing thriller shit bring back the comedy

Sasuke: what comedy?

Deidara: yeah, make us laugh again!

Sakura: again? I'm still waiting to laugh once

Me: *glaring at Sasuke and Sakura* I'm beginning to see why you two make such a perfect pair, you both are complete shit heads

Sasuke and Sakura: *crack knuckles threateningly*

Me: *cracking own knuckles* BRINGIT!

Sasuke, Sakura, Me: *start fighting in a cloud of dust*

EVERYONE ELSE: *sigh*

Sai: well, I guess we just enjoy the show and head to the next chapter

Naruto: Sai for once you're making sense

Tenten: don't forget to comment guys! *takes popcorn from Choji and helps to pass it around*

Hinata: who do you think will win this round?

Shino: the writer most likely seeing as how she's the one on the keyboard *pops popcorn in mouth*


	12. Chapter 12

Me: *to Temari* you can set me down now you know

Temari: are you going to be have?

Me: no promises

Temari: *hangs writer up on tree by shirt* then you can just give orders from there for a while

Me: WHAT!

Naruto: wow I think Temari just put crazed fangirl-sama in time out

Tobi: she should've been a good boy

Deidara: she's a girl

Tobi: like you Deidara?

Sasori: *kicks Tobi fifty feet in the air* you're not a good boy anymore Tobi, you're a fucking gunman now!

Me: YAY GO SASORI!

Sasori: shut up and just disclaim the story already

Me: *still hangin from tree blinks* oh yeah…*turns to readers* sorry to say guys I don't own any naruto stuff

Sakura: thank god for small blessings

Me: I wouldn't wanna own a distorted character like you anyways! None of my characters would be caught dead with such a huge forehead Lady Frankenstein!

Sakura: *mad glint in eye* say that again, I dare ya

Lee: okay on with the show! *runs after Sakura* wait Sakura don't bend her arm like that it doesn't go that way!

High School Is Murder

By: Ghostwritter9396

Ch. 12

"We're reporting from you live outside of Konoha High School." The cheery blonde reported said urgently as her camera crew first shot her, then turned their view to the seemingly quiet building behind her.

Parents were arriving to answer their childrens' terrified calls to be picked up. Cops were trying to maintain crowd control swat teams both on the ground and on the roves of surrounding buildings took position aiming at the school; trying to get a clear view at the gym. This was tricky seeing as how there was a back gym and the pool room they had to look past in order to see into the main gym where the hostages were.

"I'm being told that there are at least thirty-eight students in the building including the shooter." The reporter announced, the camera once again trained on her. "Including four middle school children. The high school had gathered in the gym earlier today to hold a memorial service for a teacher, Asuma Sarutobi, who was murdered in early October. Whether or not the shooter is the murderer is yet to be determined, but I have been informed that immense care and caution will be used in such an unpredictable situation."

"Someone's coming out!" shouted Izumo. "Be ready but hold your fire!"

Tiny hands, pale and shaking in the winter sunlight appeared from behind the front doors.

"It's a friendly!" shouted a swat man. He opened the door the rest of the way to see Moegi, her thin arms around Hinabi's chest, dragging her along. Behind her came Konohamaru, one of Udon's arm's wrapped around his shoulders. The latter was so pale he almost looked opaque. "We need medics!"

Another man ran up to Moegi and gently took Hinabi from her. She herself was shaking, tears falling from her eyes in waves. Two more medics rushed to assist Konohamaru with Udon and another man fought his way through the armed men to get at Moegi herself.

"Moegi!"

"Daddy!" she through her arms around her father, sobbing into his shoulder. He held her tightly, trying to comfort her, his one face stricken with tears.

Yuura approached Konohamaru who was kneeling by Udon as the medics hooked him up to an ivy and tried to control his blood flow.

"I know you're in shock, son, but I need to ask you about the shooter."

Konohamaru looked up at him, his eyes distant as tears fell from them. He nodded slowly.

"Did he say what his name was?"

"Madara."

Yuura looked over at Izumo and Kotetsu. "Does that name mean anything?" Kotetsu shook his head. "He wasn't the kid you guys came here to question?"

"No, that's Tobi Suiba. We have no idea who this Madara kid is." Izumo said.

"He said Tobi was dead." Konohamaru blurted out, his mind still full of what the shooter had said. "He said that we were innocent, like Tobi. But Tobi was still killed anyways. A girl with blue hair told him that he was Tobi but he got really mad when she said that. He got even more scary. He said that Tobi had been hurt and had called for him. Now Tobi was dead and he was in control." He could still hear the high pitch crazed laughter and he clamped his hands over his ears, trying to block it out. "He shot a lot. Neji is shot in the leg, and to other boys, one in the shoulder because he tried to call for help on his phone, and the other because he made the shooter mad by calling him a tooth fairy. He wouldn't let anyone go. But then he shot Udon, for no reason. Then he said the four of us could go. We had only a minute to get out, he's playing Simon Says. We had a minute to…to run for our lives." Here Konohamaru broke down completely and couldn't continue. Kotetsu bent down next to him.

"It's okay, son. You did great. Vice principal Shizune here is going to ride with you to the hospital so you can be with your friend, okay?" Konohamaru looked up at Shizune's smiling face and outstretched hand and nodded. He took her hand and let her pull him up. Just then he felt his head get heavy and he stumbled against her.

"Careful now, are you okay?" she asked him.

"Make sure he gets treated for trauma." Muttered Kotetsu. Shizune nodded and led a weak Konohamaru to a nearby ambulance.

"What the hell do you want?" cried Sakura, clinging to Sasuke who had her in a protective grip.

"To understand…and to punish." Said Madara, smirking again.

"Not that I don't admire your twisted side kid, but game's over." Said Hidan, trembling as he kept his wide eyes on the gun. "How many times I gotta tell ya, huh? Jashin will punish all. So you can relax where that's concerned, it's already taken care of."

BANG!

Hidan went down in a spray of blood as his knee cap was shot off. He howled in pain a minute before gritting his teeth and clamped his hands over his leg. Kakuzu knelt down beside him, looking pissed and worried at the same time.

The others stared as Madara calmly replenished the bullets in his gun, realizing as they did so that he never let the gun get completely empty, he always made sure he had at least a half a round.

"I want to understand too."

It was a whisper, barely heard above Hidan's pants of pain. But it drew every eye in the gym to Itachi Uchia nonetheless.

"I want to understand who you are, Madara." His steady eyes were fixed on the shooter, searching his face. For what no one knew. Sasuke was staring at his brother, trying to understand him. He had never had any problem before, but now, was it because they had finally turned on each other? He couldn't make out a single thing written on his face. He looked down at his still bruised wrist, the wound his father was able to give him because his brother was down and Sasuke was so used to him blockig the blows, he hadn't defended himself in time. Could it be that Sasuke's coward ness his own unreliability to help his brother, broke whatever connection they had shared all these years?

"Who am I?" once again Madara sounded puzzled. "I'm the monster that saves the innocent."

"Where did you come from? Who are your parents?" Itachi sounded urgent, as if his whole life depended on the answers to these questions. "Does the name Uchiha mean anything to you?"

Madara stared at him. "Uchiha…what do you know about the name Uchiha?" he was getting unnerved, this boy was reading his thoughts, he had to be. The name Uchiha had haunted him for years, familiar yet foreign at the same time. He had dreamed about someone calling out that name once, and ever since he couldn't get it out of his mind.

"When I was little, my baby cousin Madara was stolen from my family. His parents and brother were killed and he was taken. My dad tried to find him, but he was shot in the pursuit. He was forced to give up his job and the search but he always swore he would find him." Itachi said, speaking from pure instinct. "I was only three but I still remember everything. It's my earliest memory, his smile, his laugh. I remember it all. Who are you Madara?"

Madara shook his head slightly. "Not a baby cousin." He smirked. So, the bastard and bitch hadn't been his real family, he figured as much. No matter, it doesn't change anything.

"Now that we have that out of the way," he said easily, tapping the barrel of the gun lightly against his thy as he paced back and forth. "tell me. Why would anyone remorse the death of a bastard like that teacher?"

Itachi stared. He couldn't believe how indifferent Madara was being. He couldn't be his cousin, he would've wanted to know more if he was. Itachi felt idiotic as tears stung his eyes. He knew Sasuke was looking at him, wanting more answers himself, but he couldn't give them to him now. He felt Kisame's hand in his and felt a slight preasure as he squeezed it reassuringly. He looked over and Kisame, though his head was facing Madara, had his eyes trained on Itachi. Itachi gave his masked smile, showing Kisame that he wasn't okay but he could keep a good face for now.

"I mean," Madara was saying. "where's the logic in that huh? The guy was a total prick and here you all are, saying how great and honorable he was. What kind of fucked up Kool-Aid did you guys drink?"

"Shut up."

Everyone turned to Shikamaru. Temari was clutching his arm but she too was staring evily at Madara, she wasn't scared, she was pissed, and trying to restrain Shikamaru from leaping into a bullet.

"Don't you say one more word about Asuma Sarutobi! You didn't even know him!"

"But I did you moron. I was the one who killed him."

Gaara: *looking down at remainder of fight* you got Sakura no problem *turns to Sakura spread eagle out cold*

Shino: *looking at writer* and you would have gotten Sasuke if you could've seen that right hook coming

Me: *head bandage, arm in cast, bloody nose and bruised eye* hitting a girl on her blind side, that's just down right rude

Sasuke: *bent over in pain trying to get breath back* looks who talking bitch, at least I didn't aim below the belt

Me: that's debatable. Aiming for the blind spot is just as insulting and low

Hinata: ummm guys?

Me: huh?

Hinata: the chapter's over

Me: *blinks* oh yeah, look it is

Hidan: is it just me or are your chapters getting shorter?

Pein: no, they are…WHICH IS SO STUPID! YOU CAN NOT JUST CUT IT OFF IN THE MIDDLE OF ACTION LIKE THAT!

Me: well, I did so get over it. Now, you're hooked and you're forced to keep reading hehe my plan worked….wouldn't it be so evil of me to end the story here? *mad laugh*

AKATSUKI: bitch

EVERYONE YOU WOULDN'T DARE

Me: don't hate just appreciate

Sasuke: come up with that on your own genius?

Me: I'm ready whenever you are brad pitt just keep talking

Tenten: okay, give it a rest, at least wait till next chapter when you guys are healed

Karin: readers read on and comment….seriously, this girl might go off if you don't

Me: that is so mean I would never-

EVERYONE: *stares at writer*

Me: okay maybe a little ^w^


	13. Chapter 13

Ummm it was recently brought to my attention that I called Tobi a 'cereal' killer….it should have 'serial' killer….he doesn't kill people with whole grain breakfast folks…sorry….although that would make a great story!

Sakura: well lookie here, you're finding a lot of mistakes aren't you?

Me: get stuffed

Sakura: what did you say!?

Me: you heard me

Sakura: you wanna go bitch?

Me: taste my awesome cereal of death! *throws box of lucky charms at Sakura*

Kankuro: uhhh yeah…*turns to readers as Sakura and writer continue to fight* Ghostwriter9396 does not own Naruto

Gaara: but she does own an odd mind

Kankuro: that's the understatement of the year little bro, she owns the most bazar minds I've ever had the misfortune to be caught in

Me: Hey, I heard that you guys…*starts crying*

Lee: HOW DARE YOU MAKE MY FANGIRL CRY!

Gaara: but you can't deny that we're right

Lee: …*head down* no I can not

Konan: I think we all agree on that…oh well…here's the next chapter everyone

High School Is Murder

By: Ghostwritter9396

Ch. 13

Shikamaru was seeing red. His ears were ringing and he just made out the rest of Madara's words.

"He was in league with the bastard so I had to. Besides, it was fun. More fun than strangling that little puppy dog anyways."

Kiba fought to get to his feet, his teeth clenched but his stance steady. Before he could rush Madara however, Shino reached out and held Kiba close to him, refusing to release him. Ino had joined Temari's efforts in restraining Shikamaru which was proving difficult.

Madara looked over at the sudden movement. "Huh? Was it something I said?"

Kabuto, who was standing at the end of the line with the rest of the Snakes pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. _Well, well. So it was an Akatsuiki member after all._

"Well done, Jugo. You passed the finals with flying colors. Those study tips I gave you came in useful after all, huh?"

"You kidding? It was just my awesome brain that got me through." Both of the them laughed.

Jugo felt a small tear run down his cheek as this memory came to mind. Asuma had been the only one who believed he could do anything other than walk dogs and beat people black and blue. The boy in black pacing in front of him and the others had taken that from him. And what was worse, he was showing no feeling about it. No joy, no anger, no remorse. He was just telling them like it was no big deal.

"Sarutobi's death was a warning to the bastard and the bitch, but did they heed it?" continued Madara. "No, they didn't. Just like no one heeded the warning I gave about the fighting."

"What are you talking about?" snapped Dosu, following the boy in black with his small beedy eyes.

"The bugs." Sighed Madara. "Of course, I didn't really feed that plant thing of Zetsu's, I didn't know how. But I took them in any case. I picked the lock during lunch, grabbed the bugs, and left. I would hope that it would serve a strong enough warning to the three points of the school to stop fighting each other. However, no one even took it as a warning." Muttered Madara disappointedly. "Ah well, they served very useful in the game I played this morning with bastard and bitch."

"What game?" asked Tenten, kneeling next to Neji, her body making a half shield.

"I killed them too. Only this time, I let Shino's and Kidomaru's bugs join in the fun. And it was fun, to hear their screams through the gags. To see the terror in their eyes as the bugs crawled inside their bodies and made little nests. I wonder if they've found the bugs yet." He said almost as an after thought. "I let them crawl in their skin for a few minutes while I took care of the finishing details. Then I reached in and examined their hearts. I was very curious you see what the hearts of betrayers and abusers looked like. They were weak, I barely had to apply pressure and they fell apart."

Karin felt light headed as she slumped against the wall, falling over to all fours and gaged as these words hit her. Indeed everyone looked at least five shades paler than before as Madara went into detail of what he had done to his, or rather Tobi's, parents.

"But you know," he said calmly, shrugging his shoulders as if to say 'no big deal', his head tilted to one side, eyes closed and that damn smirk on his face again. "I still had more fun examining that teacher. His organs were really weak. Ahahah, Simon Says don't even think about it." He added, leveling the gun at Karin as Jugo started running towards him. "Back in line hero. UMPH!"

While Jugo distracted him, Shikamaru had broken free from the girls and had rushed him. He slammed Madara to the floor, causing the gun, that thankfully was pointed now at the ceiling, to go off again. BANG!

"And there has just been another shot fired." Said the reporter, still standing at her post in front of the camera.

The parents of the hostages were now standing in a group, all looking up at the school, some crying, some stone faced and pale. Kakuzu's dad gripped his car keys tightly, leaving an imprint on his palm. _Come on boy, walk out of that building. Don't you dare leave, remember the promise we made, just us guys till the end. God don't let it be the end._

Deidara's mother was clutching her daughter and was watching the building terrified. _Kiri needs to know her brother, Dei-Dei. She needs to know the one she loves the most. Don't leave her now, not when she needs you the most. _

Sasuke and Itachi's father was fixed, no expression, on the building. _Itachi, you're always saving your brother and mother from me. Save yourselves this one more time. Do not disappear like your cousin. Do not leave me too. I promise, boys, I will never drink again, I'll give up on Madara and focus on you, just get out of their a live._

"It's no use, Sir. We can't get a clear view inside the building. We have to rush in."

"No!" shouted Yuura, pinching his nose in frustration. "Damn it is that line hooked up yet?!"

"We can't, sir, he's cut the lines!"

"Of course he has. Why would I think the bastard would actually want to talk to us?" he thought, and then looked over at Izumo and Kotetsu. "I have a plan, you in?"

Fifteen minutes later they were all looking at each other. "You sure this is going to work?" Kotetsu asked.

"You have another idea? We're still in the lines of procedure, but in a situation like this, where we don't even know what we're up against, it's tricky. If we make one wrong move, we're screwed and they're dead. Leave it all to me." Yuura said sighing heavily.

"Shikamaru!" all of them screamed at the same time. Even the Snakes, though they could care less, were horrified.

"Now then, Simon Says, no body move!" cackled Madara as he held a dazed Shikamaru by the ponytail, a sharp knife in his hand, glinting at Shikamaru's throat.

"Let him go!" begged Temari and Ino together.

"Again with this?" Madara muttered, an annoyed look crossing his face. He pressed the tip of the blade into Shikamaru's neck and they saw a trickle of blood appear. They fell silent. "If I keep letting people go, I won't have any control, now will I?" he whispered at them.

"You said you wanted to punish." Said Itachi. "Who do you want to punish and what for?"

"All of you." Shot Madara. "For weeping over that loser's body, for carrying more for him than Tobi, for letting Tobi get into that damn fight, for letting Tobi die!"

"How were we supposed to know? He never even told me." Cried Zetsu, tears running down his face. If only he had known, if only Tobi had told him. He could've, would've saved him and in doing so, Sarutobi, the dog, and Tobi's folks too. He should've seen it, should've seen the hurt and pain behind those cheerful eyes. But, how could he? He hid it so well you'd have to have been looking for it to have spotted it. _Forgive me, Tobi._

I'm not dead. _Yes you are. I'm in control. _I don't want to play this game anymore, I'm scared, I want to be with Zetsu and the others. _You're dead damn it, you wont be with anyone ever again. _

Why wouldn't this kid just die already? He's getting weaker, Madara could feel that. But still, he needed to suppress him completely to ensure control. _You wanted my help remember? You cried that night all those years ago and I came to protect you. His friends were hurting you and I killed them for you. _But I got hurt more because of it. _But you never had to be hurt by anyone but the bastard again, right. _Yeah. _Trust me, Tobi, I'm taking care of you. I'm hiding you so you wont be hurt anymore. You can't trust Zetsu or anyone else, they just want to hurt you._

There, that ought to restrain the little wimp for now, if he was lucky, for good. He felt the knife beneath his fingers, and he got an idea in his head. This would be really fun indeed, and it would finally punish them all, the ultimate torture before death, and then when he was done, thirty-three heads would lie at his feet, thirty-three identities would be erased.

Me: *turns to Sasuke* next chapter?

Sasuke: *nods*

Both: *start fighting*

Tenten: *groans*

Pein: WAIT! WHAT!? WHAT ARE ThEY PLANNING? WHAT'S MADARA GONNA DO WITH THAT KNIFE? WHERE DID THE GUN GO? I'M SO CONFUSED!

Me: *pokes head out of smoke cloud, still fighting Sasuke* for the last time just read *head goes back down in cloud*

Hidan: *claps Pein on shoulder* don't let it get to you man, it's not that good of a story anyways

Pein: I DON'T CARE! THERE ARE QUESTIONS UNANSWERED AND MY OCD WONT LET ME FORGET THEM! I HAVE TO KNOW!

Konan: down big boy, here, click the next button and it'll all be alright, okay? *turns to readers* don't forget to comment you guys!


	14. Chapter 14

Kakashi: come on

Me: *arms and legs crossed head turned away pouting* no you guys have insulted me once too many times

Gaara: but what about all the stuff you've done to us?

Me: I've been nothing but nice to you

Sasuke, Sakura, Orochimaru: BULL SHIT

Me: no it's not…I haven't messed with all of you…

Naruto: are you sure about that?

Me: I haven't messed with Shino *points at bug guy*

Shino: you wouldn't win in any case

Me: *holds up can of bug spray* you wanna bet on that?

Kiba: *jumps up and turns to readers* okay you all know the disclaimer so read on *Shino and writer are arguing in background*

Shino: Hey that stuff hurts bitch!

Me: who isn't winning again? *evil laugh*

Kiba: BREAK IT UP! *chases after them* Hey don't spray it in his face!

High School Is Murder

By: Ghostwritter9396

Ch. 14

Choji was gritting his teeth as his eyes went from Kiba, who was still being restrained by Shino; Temari and Ino, both girls had started to fall forward after Shikamaru broke free and he and Kankuro had had to grab them before they face planted on the floor; to Shikamaru who was half conscious in Madara's hands.

He had rushed the boy in black and had knocked him down, pinning him as he forced the gun to point at the ceiling. It had seemed for the smallest second that he would've won. However, Madara clearly didn't like to be topped. He had pushed both of them over in one swift movement to gain the upper hand. Shikamaru had pulled at his wrist, tugging it past his head, trying to get the gun away from the shooter. Madara had not tried pulling his arm back, but instead, had yanked it up, forcing Shikamaru to start pulling down. That force, along with Madara's intentional movement of bringing his arm down, caused enough momentum behind the blow. Madara had struck Shikamaru on the head with the but of the gun, gotten to his feet, stored the gun in his bomber jacket and had pulled out a knife, long and sharp from a holster on his leg, putting it to Shikamaru's thoat and glaring at all of them with only one red eys. Shikamaru had knocked the other one out when he talked him. It had all happened in a matter of seconds. Choji wasn't scared anymore, he was petrified.

Madara was grinning now, almost out of his mind with the euphoric image of their pain in his mind. Yes, he would force them to share the ultimate pain for ignoring his own, and for being so blind to the truth about that son of a bitch teacher.

He tossed the kid he was holding onto his back and straddled him, putting the tip of the blade at the base of his thoat, right beneath his Adam's apple at the top of his breast plate between the two color bones. The other kids gasped and started moving forward but he just lazily drew out the gun again and pointed it at a particularly defiant face in the line. A boy who had short dark hair and dark blue grey eyes. His arms were around a pink haired girl who was crying into his chest, her face turned away from the scene in front of her. Madara smirked, God this was fun. He couldn't feel joy or peace or anything when he was like this, he just knew this was what he wanted to do, he wanted to hear their screams, see their tears, feel their blood.

"I wouldn't if I were you." He said softly and completely in control. They all stopped, unsure of what to do, try and get to Madara before the gun, which was pointing at a deadly accuracy at Sasuke, went off or watch in horror as he cut Shikamaru open. Madara was drinking it up, the indecision, the tension, the fear. "It really is interesting you know." He continued. "You all stick to your little groups day in and day out, the Akatsuki, the Snakes, and the outcasts. You never interact unless it's to put each other down or to fight till the other's brain matter is scattered on the pavement. Yet, when an outside force is threatening just one of you, everyone jumps to their aid. It's like that in all situations, school, home, work, the streets. Complete strangers wanting to emit negative actions on someone, and another complete stranger, who just finished cursing the victim out or pushing them out of their way, is willing to risk everything to save that person. Why is that do you think? None of you cared about this kid before, except a few of you who were his so called friends. And yet I see outcasts, Akatsuki and Snakes alike rushing to save him. Do you wish to be heroes? Is that why? Just so you can have fame or admiration? Or is it that you truly care for him, despite not knowing him? Is it what they call human nature? What is that anyways? One human's nature is to love and protect, then you have humans like me who's nature is to kill, analyze and torture."

They all looked at each other, unnerved. He was insane, completely psychotic, but they all felt he had some truth to what he was saying, no matter how much they tried to deny it.

"Or maybe," he said as an after thought. "maybe it's because to at least a few of you he represents what you wish you could be. All your negativity towards him was just pure jealousy thrown at him, but you really care for him. Maybe. In any case, no matter what the answer is, to any of those countless questions, it doesn't change things. He's going to die and he's going to die while you all watch. He is going to be the final warning, the one who's blood will stain all of you so much, no other blood will show on your hands. You wanted violence, you got it." He started running the knife down the boy's pale skin, dark blood leaking out as if it couldn't wait to escape it's captivity. He was almost to the navel, enjoying the sounds of cries from both the boy and the line of students. He stopped, put the knife down and reached in his pocket and drew out a small glass tube with stopper. It was stuffed with bugs. He used his teeth to unstopper the tube and then he turned it upside down over the cut and then the boy's screaming face. He wasn't fully aware of what was going on, but he was aware enough to know he was in pain and being invaded so that was all that mattered. He was about to peal back the first layer of skin, to reveal the white bone stained in red blood, when it happened.

I don't want to play this game anymore, he never hurt me. _Tobi, it's okay. I told you, you have to trust me. _No, no I don't. I don't want to trust you anymore. You're scarier than the other monsters. You're the biggest monster of them all.

Damn it, the kid was fighting back again. He was still weak though, but nice wont work with him anymore. Oh well, Madara knew he couldn't pretend to be this kid's protector for ever. He had been hiding in the back of the boy's mind their entire life, he just had to wait to be called on. And when he was, he had to earn the boy's trust. Well, obviously that trust has now dried up, too bad.

_You finally see it for real now do ya kid? I know you always saw me as a monster, a shadow with red eyes, but I was the monster who could scare the other ones away. You finally figured out that I was able to do that because I am the king of monsters, the very essence of evil? Well, it took you long enough. _I needed you. _That's right, you needed me, never knowing that I was you all the time. _What do you mean? I am not you. _Oh, but you are, Tobi. You are me, for without you, I wouldn't exist. You created me Tobi, I'm in your head, in your body, and you can't get rid of me now. You might have been able to, once, but that time is long gone little Tobi. I'm in control now, and that means we will keep playing this game over and over again. You are nothing, Tobi, you always have been and you always will be._

Zetsu was staring at Madara as were the rest of them. He had suddenly just stopped, his hand that held the knife was trembling, as if he was finding it hard to keep a hold of it. His gun hand however, remained quite steady. It was unnerving to see it. He was shaking his head, gritting his teeth. His eyes were closed and he looked like he was concentrating hard. Zetsu wondered if Tobi was fighting back.

"Tobi!" he shouted. "You're not like this! Don't do this! Shikamaru is your friend! He was the one who helped you study remember? He helped you find your way whenever you got lost in the school! He was the only one you couldn't annoy to the point of him hitting you! You do not want to hurt him!"

Zetsu? _No, Tobi, that's just your mind playing tricks on you. _My mind? _That's right, you are trying to fight me by hiding behind the thought of Zetsu. Don't even try, it is pointless._

"SHUT UP!" cried Madara. "SHUT UP OR HE DIES!" he cocked the gun, glaring, his single contact gleaming read, his face twisted in furry, teeth grinding against each other.

"Tobi! You're stronger than this!" Zetsu cried out. "You run from fights a lot, but out of everyone I know, you have the strongest heart!"

"Seriously dude?" groaned Zaku. "Tell me you did not just really say something that pathetic."

Kin reached up, not taking her eyes off of Madara, and slapped her boyfriend upside the head lightly. "Shut up you idiot." She whispered. "Just let him talk."

"Come on Kid." Zetsu said, ignoring Zaku and Kin.

"I said shut- ZETSU?"

"That's right kiddo, I'm right here, along with everyone else. We're all behind you!" called Zetsu. "You can fight him!"

Zetsu, he is here! _No, Tobi, it doesn't matter! I'm in control not you! I'm alive, you're dead! I'm the monster, remember, you try and fight me and I'll obliterate you for good!_

This was not good. If that plant lover didn't shut up soon, he might just give Tobi the strength he needs to over power him again. Madara could not have that, he could not loose control, he could not loose his freedom. He reamed the gun and fired.

"Tobi!"

Everyone froze, Zetsu was falling and Pein ran to catch him before he hit the floor. Blood sprayed from his chest, covering both of them as it landed. They all turned to the doors leading to the back gym. A voice calling Tobi's name had come from behind it.

Yuura waited, holding his breath. They had just heard yet another gun fire. This was not good. How many were dead already? Had he killed them all? Had he killed them all and then himself? What was going on in there? He couldn't get at a good enouch angle to see everything. No, some were alive, he could see their pale faces looking at the door he was crowtching behind. That was some good news. But he couldn't see the shooter, that was bad news. He called out again.

"Tobi Suiba! This is the police! We've got the gym surrounded. There are cops at this entrance, at the pool entrence, and at the main one in the halls! There's no where to run boy! Just come out with your hands up, gun unloaded and on your head!"

Nothing.

Then a maddening cry of "I WIN!"

Yuura took in a breath, unsure of what that meant. He closed his eyes and acted in a split second decision.

"MOVE NOW!"

Jugo: I don't get it

Me: huh?

Pein: yeah, where's the rest of it?

Me: in the next chapter

Pein: NOT AGAIN! What happened?

Zetsu: YOU BETTER NOT HAVE KILLED ME YOU BITCH!

Me: just read and you'll find out

Tobi: not good….Tobi would never get cornered by cops

Deidara: it's comments like that Tobi that make us worry about you un, maybe you are twisted after all

Sasori: I could have told you that Deidara

Tobi: What? But Tobi is a good boy!

Deidara: keep saying that and I'll turn you into a dead boy

*Deidara and Tobi and Sasori start fighting*

Me: *sighs* on to the next chapter guys *turns to fight* okay break it up you three

Tobi: but crazed fangirl-sama fights all the time

Deidara: yeah, just because you're not in on it doesn't mean we have to stop

Me: *grins* you wanna fight?

Deidara, Sasori, Tobi: *nods*

Me: okay then *knocks all out with one blow* fight's over I win hehe


	15. Chapter 15

Sorry guys, I just noticed…though it's too late now…that I had Dosu speak in one of the last chapters when he wasn't even in the gym…..lol I'm not very good at this

Me: there's too many of you to keep track of

Sakura: serves you right for biting off more than you can chew little girl

Suigetsu: *grinning as he hold writer back from tearing Sakura's head off* anyways you know the disclaimer, Naruto isn't owned by Ghostwritter9396

Sakura: *stands just out of writer's reach making faces at her* hehe

Suigetsu: *still holding writer tightly* right then…on with the show *bends down and whispers in writer's ear*

Me: *giggles* that's true

Sakura: huh? What is it?

Suigetsu: nothing for you to get your over sized forehead all wrinkled about

Sakura: *aims a punch at Suigetsu who just jumps into near by pool* na-na-na-na-na

High School Is Murder

By: Ghostwritter9396

Ch. 15

They rushed in from every door, cops with protective vests and guns held at the ready. They stood in front of the students who were now calling out in shock and fear, weeping, some clinging to each other for dear life, others crying out a kid's name. One boy, a kid with facial piercings and spiked red hair was on top of a boy in black who was holding his head, shaking it and crying out "I WIN!"

The cops rushed forward and dragged the red head off the other boy, doing as they did so disarming a knife from his hand and cuffing him.

Five minutes later, after the students told them that the boy in black was the shooter, not the Pein kid they had cuffed; and the boy in black requested to see a mirror, the gym was evacuated. When the knife was held up to the boy so he could see himself, he smirked in a way that said he was happy about something, but what that was no one knew. The kids had told them about Madara and Tobi, how they were the same person but at the same time they weren't. Yuura was puzzled for a moment before he realized the kid must have some sort of psych issue with him.

Once the kids were out side they all ran to their families.

"Mom! Kiri un!" Deidara shouted as he gathered his tiny sister in his arms and his mother wrapped her own around the two of them. Sasori and his grandmother stood by them, Chiyo keeping a shaking hand on her grandson's shoulder.

Kakuzu's dad did something Kakuzu hadn't seen him do since his mother walked out; he cried and pulled his son in a rib cracking embrace. Hidan's father was pale as he rushed to the ambulance where his son was being loaded up, going to the hospital. Shikamaru's and Zetsu's fathers, Neji's uncle and Hinata, Kidomaru's mother and Hana and her mother also ran to various ambulances where their children were being loaded up as well.

"DAD!" cried Sasuke, finally releasing Sakura so she could run to her own parents. He and Itachi ran to their father who took both boys into his arms. Their mother stood beside him, her face streaked with tears.

"Thank God." Their father whispered to both of them. "Boys, I'm so sorry. I promise, I'm going to get help, I won't hurt you ever again, nor your mother."

Itachi wasn't as quick as Sasuke to believe this but now wasn't the time to show his doubt. He detached himself from his father's grip and turned to his mother, pulling her close to him. He thought about mentioning that the shooter had been Madara, but he still wasn't sure himself, so he decided to hold his tongue.

"Naruto!"

Naruto looked around and saw Jiraiya pushing through the crowd, trying to get at him. Naruto, Gaara, Kankuro and Temari were all standing by the school still, having no parent or sibling to rush to. They had been each other's family since Naruto and Gaara started middle school, Temari and Kankuro taking care of them. Jiraiya had acted as a financial benefactor for a while, on account of him being Naruto's godfather, but it wasn't till this moment that Naruto realized just how much Jiraiya really cared for him and his friends.

His godfather reached them and pulled Naruto into a hug so tight Naruto thought that he had survived the shooting just to be crushed to death by his perverted old godfather. Once he released him, Jiraiya turned and gave awkward hugs to Temari, Kankuro and Gaara, all of whom looked shocked and a little uneasy; Gaara most of all.

"None of you were hurt?" Jiraiya asked, concern in his voice. They all shook their heads.

"Come on you, maybe your tongue will loosen down at the station."

They all turned to see Kotetsu and Izumo leading a cuffed and disarmed boy in black to a marked car with flashing lights.

"Isn't that Tobi Suiba?" Jiraiya asked.

"We don't know." Naruto told him.

"Huh?"

"He said his name was Madara through out the whole thing." Kankuro explained.

"Then he seemed to kind of tense up right before he could kill Shikamaru." Said Temari weakly, her whole body was shaking. "Zetsu tried talking to him, to Tobi not Madara. Madara shot him. He's not dead yet but it doesn't look good. I heard a medic say that he and Shikamaru were top priority, they were the two who were in the worse condition." She finally lost it and collapsed. Kankuro and Gaara caught her as she went down.

"I'll take her over." Said Kankuro, lifting his sister into his arms. "She's going into shock."

"After he shot Zetsu, he started screaming, like he was talking to himself." Gaara continued as they watched a medic lean over Temari. "Pein took advantage of the situation and rushed him. None of us had ever seen that guy really go off. He attacked Madara or Tobi or whoever he is. All we heard was him saying 'I win'. We could all see that Tobi was fighting, but it could've been an act to try and scare us or something."

"One thing's for sure." Naruto said, trying to calm his own shaking nerves. "I'm never playing Simon Says ever again for as long as I live."

A few days after the shooting Kotetsu and Izumo went to the hospital to check up on the kids. Shikamaru was still sleeping a lot. He had had surgery to debug him and sew up his chest and he wasn't completely awake yet; it had taken a few hours to get all the bugs out of his body.

Zetsu was awake but according to his parents he hadn't spoken a single word the entire time.

Udon was in more or less the same condition as Zetsu. He was awake but he was too traumatized to speak. They had to keep a close eye on him because every now and then he would show signs of a heart murmur. The bullet had struck his heart, but it hadn't killed him. However the kid had a long recovery ahead of him.

The detectives decided to talk to Hidan, Kiba and Kidomaru first. Neji had been released the same day he had gone in, seeing as how his wound wasn't as serious as the others. Kiba would've been able to leave too if it hadn't been for the fact that by trying to rush the shooter he had opened his shoulder a little more and now needed to have a transfusion to make up for the blood he had lost.

They got the same story from all three boys. That the shooter had shot out the lights right after Shikamaru's speech about Sarutobi, all the kids running and screaming, how he had made Dr. Tsunade leave the gym, how he had made them line up against the wall, shooting Kiba the moment he saw Kiba's phone out. He then had told them calmly that they were playing Simon Says and made it clear that they would be shot if they didn't follow the rules.

"He was always calm." Said Kiba gritting his teeth. "He only lost it when he started shaking his head and talking to himself. It was unnerving."

They had explained how the boy in black shouted about his parents abusing him, an innocent kid. He had shot Udon to prove some point but none of the boys knew what that point was.

"Maybe to say that not even innocence is a reason to be ignored by evil or something." Muttered Kidomaru.

They continued by saying how he had let the younger kids go but had only given them a minute to escape, if they didn't move it they would die. Thankfully they had made it just in time. They explained how some of them kind of made him made by insulting or challenging him and as a result got shot. He had finally spat out how he killed his parents in gory details that even had Hidan gaging, something Hidan flat out denied in an attempt to keep up his bad ass attitude. Jugo couldn't take it when he started talking about Sarutobi and started to rush him. The shooter had threatened Karin and Jugo had backed off, but Shikamaru had gotten to him. They had fought and the shooter had knocked Shikamaru out, kind of. Shikamaru screamed when the knife pierced him so he had to have been awake a little. Then the shooter had taken out a test tube filled with bugs and had poured them into Shikamaru. Then he had kind of froze, like he lost control of his arm or something. Zetsu had shouted out Tobi's name and told him that all the kids were routing for him, and the boy in black shot him to shut him up. Then he started screaming and Pein rushed him, grabbed the knife and sliced his cheek.

"Then you guys rushed in, guns blazing, and stupidly cuffed Pein for doing nothing but trying to save our asses." Hidan spat.

Kotetsu and Izumo had looked at each other at that point. It was nice to know that they all were so grateful to them for saving their sorry hides.

Seeing as how all three boys were in different rooms and still sang the same tune, Kotetsu and Izumo felt that they were telling the truth. Including the part about how the boy in black had acted alone with no help from the Snakes or the Akatsuki.

Now they walked into Zetsu's room. The boy was lying on his back staring at the ceiling. The TV was off and he was clutching his sheets in his fists. He didn't move when they knocked on his door. If it hadn't been for the machines beeping all around him they would have thought he was dead.

"Hey, kid, how ya feeling?" Kotetsu asked kindly.

Nothing.

"Uh, we just have a few questions, if you're up for them. They wont take long." Said Izumo, stealing a glance at Kotetsu.

"The only thing I'm going to tell you," Zetsu said in a worse growl. "is that no matter what anyone's told you so far, the real hero was Tobi Suiba."

Tobi: Tobi's confused…what happened to Tobi?

Hidan: he gets the needle right? Or the electric chair? Yeah, the electric chair sounds like a good idea!

Tobi: but, that will kill Tobi wont it?

Hidan: what do you care Tobi? You're immortal remember?

Tobi: oh yeah…

Me: *mysterious smile* all will be revealed in the next chapter

Sasuke: you mean this bull shit still isn't over?

Sakura: I was sure that would be the end of the damn thing

Me: *shadow over face* what was that?

Sasuke: bring it bitch

Me, Sasuke, Sakura: *start fighting*

Tenten: *rolls eyes* this is getting old…anyways don't forget to comment you guys! *turns to other characters* you guys wanna go get a drink or something?

EVERYONE: Yeah let's get out of here

Me, Sasuke, Sakura: hey wait up we wanna come too!

Neji: will you act like adults and not try and kill each other?

Me, Sasuke, Sakura: *nods in agreement*

Kakashi: come on then, slushies all around *turns to Yamato* you got this round right?

Yamato: Huh?

Kakashi: I mean, you are the only one who hasn't played a part in this little drama this girl's cooked up, and what better role to play than the piece keeper?

Yamato: *hands money to cashier*

EVERYONE: YAY SLUSHIES!


	16. Chapter 16

Me: *fighting Sasuke and Sakura again*

Naruto: *to Lee* hey bushy brows, you feeling left out too

Lee: indeed I am Naruto. We are the strongest fighters and yet she still has not let join in one fight! Eeeeer it is so frustrating!

Maruto: Yeah, I hear ya. What ya say we just put ourselves in the rush of things, huh?

Lee: that is a very good idea Naruto! Let the spirit of youth shine bright within us!

Naruto: *tightening his head band* yeah lets stir things up with *makes hand signs* SUMMONING JUTSU! *pop and puff of smoke* HUH? WHO ARE YOU?

Unknown: Where am I?

Me: huh? Hey! I know you!

Naruto: Kermit the frog? What are you doing here?

Kermit: beats me *looks around and shrugs* as long as I'm here…writer does not own Naruto what ever that is

Naruto: you don't even know my show and yet you're giving a disclaimer

Kermit: PUMPETS RULE! NINJAS DROOL!

NARUTO CHARACTERS: *shadows over faces and cracking knuckles* what did you say frog?

Kermit: I mean uhhh on with whatever story this is! *runs away arms flapping laughing the famous Kermit laugh*

High School Is Murder

By: Ghostwritter9396

Ch. 16

ONE YEAR LATER

"Saso!"

"Hey Kiri!" laughed Sasori, swooping the tiny girl up in his arms as she ran out to meet him.

"Hey, what's up un?" Deidara asked from the doorway as Sasori carried a now one year old Kiri back up to the house.

"Not much." Said Sasori, putting the baby down and letting her disappear back into the entrance way. He turned to his boyfriend and took him into his arms, kissing him hello. "You know," he laughed, fingering the long blonde hair that Deidara hadn't yet styled for the day. "you really do look like a girl."

Deidara blushed scarlet and started spluttering about to profoundly remark to this when a high pitch giggle came from behind them. They turned to see Kiri peering around a corner at them, a sippycup in her mouth.

"What are you laughing at, un?" asked Deidara, smiling as he walked over to her and picked her up, tickling her tummy. She screeched with laughter again.

"Little Brat, un." Muttered Deidara. He had to be careful what he said around her these days, now that she was starting to talk. But he gave Sasori a look that said his comment would not go unpunished. He carried Kiri into the other room where his mother sat at the table.

"Oh, Sasori, you're up early." She said as she sipped her coffee.

"I thought I'd stop by so Deidara and I could go tother. Kiri can come too, seeing as how we're all planning a picnic at the park after wards." He said, his face not so impassive as it used to be, now showing a tiny hint of a smile.

"That sounds nice." She said, smiling at him.

"Come on man un. You can help me get the brat ready while I get dressed." Deidara said. Up till that point Sasori hadn't noticed that Deidara was in an old t-shirt and sweat pants.

"Right." Sasori said, trapping Kiri in his arms once more and following Deidara up the stairs.

"Dei-Dei!" laughed Kiri, reaching over and pulling on his hair.

"Ouch un! Kiri, that hurts!" he yelped as his little sister laughed and Sasori tried to help pry her tiny fingers off the lock of blonde hair they were tugging.

"I'll be back in a sec un." Deidara mumbled as he went into his room and closed the door. Kiri saw him go and started fussing a little, calling for her Dei-Dei but Sasori repositioned her and walked into the nursery.

"Don't start that up, cry baby." He said, patting her gently on the back before sitting her on the changing table. "He'll be in here in a moment, you're okay."

She looked up at him and he did his best to truly smile at her. This apparently didn't work because she started crying a little harder, her face scrunching up.

"Oh, come on Kiri, you know it's me, what's with the fuss, huh?" he said turning his face back into a solid passive stare. She stopped crying and grinned up at him. Obviously she did not like his smile. That hurt. "There ya go." He said, careful not to smile again.

He rummaged in her closet and pulled out a pair of jeans, a green and pink striped sweater and little Velcro sneakers. When he turned around he froze. Deidara was standing there, jeans, white and blue Sketchers, a black hoodie zipped half way over a blue tee, sleves pushed up and black wristbands on. But what was so shocking was that he had all of his hair pulled back for once, including his bangs. His blind eye looking strangely lighter than his good one, but still the effect was startling.

"Don't you dare laugh un."

"Why would I laugh?"

"I don't think I like this look un. I don't feel right."

"Then why did you do it?"

"To test it out un."

A wail rang out. They turned to see Kiri staring at Deidara, crying for Sasori this time. Both boys cracked up.

"It's only me, brat." Laughed Deidara walking forward. Kiri scooted back away from him.

"Has she ever seen you're whole face?" laughed Sasori, walking over and putting the clothes down next to the baby in powder blue footy PJ's. Deidara, still amuzed shook his head. He sighed and held his hand up to his blind eye. Instantly Kiri stopped whimpering. She tilted her head and a smile broke out on her red face.

"Dei-Dei!"

Both boys laughed again. Deidara turned to go fix his hair. "Don't forget to put a one piece on before all that un." He said.

"Oh yeah." Sasori muttered, reaching over and taking out a pink one piece.

Once Deidara's hair was in it's usual half ponytail and Kiri was dressed, Sasori went down stairs to pack her snacks for the day. Deidara came down with her a few minutes later. Sasori turned and saw that Kiri's light brown curls had been pulled back in a half ponytail just like her brother's. With that look and her sky blue eyes, she looked just like Deidara only with brown hair instead of blonde.

"Finally, where have you two been?"

"You have any idea how long it takes to fight a squirming toddler into a stroller?" grumbled Sasori as he and Deidara walked up to Konan, Kisame, Itachi, Hidan, Kakuzu, Zetsu, Temari, Shikamaru, Kankuro, Hana, Kiba, Shino, Gaara, Lee, Naruto, Hinata, Choji, Ino and Kurenai who had her four month old son in a carrier strapped to her chest, a diaper bag slung over one shoulder.

All the girls smiled and knelt down by the baby girl who was eating up the attention as if she'd never been admired before, laughing and giggling like crazy. Deidara shook his head, hoping that all this attention wouldn't go to the brat's head. Sasori turned to Shikamaru who was still scowling at them.

"Who else are we waiting for?"

"Pein, Sakura, Sasuke, Kin, Zaku, Karin, Jugo, Kimimaru, Tayuya, Kidomaru, the twins, Suigetsu, Neji and Tenten." Said Hinata.

She was a hundred percent better these days. She was wearing her hair back in a low poinytail, her bangs cut in a cute style that showed off the angles of her face. She still dressed in layers but they weren't as baggy and you could actually see her attractive figure now. She was smiling and talking more too. The twins and Suigetsu had come back from juvinal hall after six weeks and the first thing they had done was seek out Hinata and apologize from the depths of their hearts. Apparently their time out session had not been fun and they had a taste of what they had put her through for two whole years. So far, they've been behaving so well it was like they were totally different boys.

Everyone who had been in the gym that day, outcasts, Akatsuki and Snakes, and a few others who had been effected just as much by the shooting, were now all gathering today, the one year mark since Asuma Sarutobi had been killed, at his grave, to say one last farewell.

Since that day almost a year ago, all of them had formed a tighter bond. The Snake gang had split. Orochimaru had finally been nailed for rape though nobody was quite sure how. Sasuke took over and those who weren't thrilled with this, Jirobo and Dosu for example, decided to drop out of school. According to Kabuto who wasn't close with anyone these days but still talked to people here and there, Jirobo's grades were so low that he had been close to getting expelled in any case.

They had all been effected in some small way because of the shooter, in more ways than just becoming closer friends. Shikamaru now had a scar that ran straight down his chest and refused to wear anything other than turtlenecks, even in summer time. He also would smash any bug he'd see on the spot. Hidan had to be in a wheel chair for a few months, something everyone hated because he would complain so much they felt like they were suffering worse than he was. Kidomaru had to give up sports for good which he wasn't pleased about, until Shino introduced him to some very weird bug loving group he was apart of. How those two could still love bugs as much as they did after what they had gone through was a mystery to everyone else. None of them had been effected as much as the Uchiha's and Zetsu however.

It turned out, through DNA, that Tobi Suiba was indeed Madara Uchiha. He had been taken by a child molester, who's wife desperately wanted a child of her own but couldn't have one. She didn't know what her husband was and couldn't bring herself to believe her 'son' when he tried to tell her. Why the man had taken Madara alone, and had killed the boy's brother and parents no one knew, nor would they ever know. The boy in black was now in a psych ward being treated for multi-personality disorder. Tsunade had explained it to the whole school so they could understand who and what had happened.

"In some rare cases," she had said during an essembly right after the winter break. "a child who is being abused and is getting no help, they will split their psyche into two parts; a submissive and an aggressive. The aggressive will appear when the submissive is feeling threatened. I have been told that Tobi Suiba made some connection in appearance between his father and Mr. Sarutobi, coming to view him as a threat and leading the aggressive, Madara, to kill him in order to protect Tobi. The boy went under a psychotic break, leading up to the shooting and the mental battle he had with himself, the two personalities fighting for control."

"Hey guys." Pein said as he got out of the car that drove up to the curb outside the cemetery.

"Hey Konan." Cheered a red head boy with a long ponytail, a strip of hair falling on the right side of his face waved from behind the stirring wheel.

"Hey Nagato, hey Yahiko." Konan waved back to the driver and to another red head in the passenger seat. The second boy, hair just as messy as Pein's only a little longer waved back grinning.

"Mom told us to remind you not to stay out to late, Pein." The driver, Nagato, said in an annoyingly bossy tone. "Remember, the other's are going to be coming home for the Christening."

"I got it, you two. I'll call when we're done here." Pein mumbled, obviously embarrassed and his older brothers grinned as Yahiko reached out and ruffled Pein's hair.

"Catch ya later Konan." Laughed Nagato as he drove off. Konan shook her head as she accepted Pein's hello kiss.

"They're still hitting on me, huh?" she asked teasingly.

"All the fucking time." He muttered, turning and greeting the others who were trying not to laugh.

"So you're Catholic?" asked Ino. Pein nodded.

"Tomarrow my baby cousin is going to have his Christening, another boy. You know my family has six boys from my side, seven from my dad's sister, and now this new kid makes five from mom's sister. I swear no one better have a girl any time soon or the poor thing will be completely trampled on." He sighed.

When the other's arrived they all headed over to the grave sight, heads bent down and each one saying a silent prayer to their teacher. Zetsu put a fresh bunch of flowers in the little stone vase at the base of his tomb stone. Little Kiri was tugging at a stuffed bird Kakuzu had made for her, looking up at everyone, not a care in the world. When they were done they started walking, arms around each other, wiping tears away. When they reached the park they met up with the last member of their group.

"Hey guys."

"Hey Sai." Smiled Sakura.

Sai had been released after it was apparent he had been framed for the murder of Asuma. Everyone had been a little uncomfortable when he came back, some students still convinced he was dangerous. But those who had been in the gym had welcomed him back, apologizing for thinking he had been the killer. He had just smiled a sad smile and said not to worry. If he had been in their shoes he probably would've suspected him as well. He was socially awkward and it had taken quite a few attempts on the boys' end to get him involved with their activities. After a few months however, he had warmed up and had shown to be quite a caring kid with immense artistic talent. For Kiri's birthday he had painted a huge portrait of all of them.

"So she knows just how big her family is and how many people love her." He had explained to Deidara who was admiring the painting in awe with the rest of them. Deidara and Sasori, both very prideful when it came to their own art, rarely commented on anyone elses, including Konan's. But both couldn't pretend even to themselves that Sai's talent with a brush didn't shock them. He had even added color, just so it would look more appealing to the baby.

Now, he had agreed to come to the park with them, but he had said that he would feel like he'd be intruding if he went to the grave.

"He was your teacher after all. I didn't get to know him, so I can't truly miss him like the rest of you can." He said. "I'll meet up with you at the park."

Now they all sat under a huge oak tree, sandwiches and soda cans and chips surrounding them. All the girls took over the watch and feeding of baby Asuma Shikamaru Yuhi and Kiri who not only ate some of her food, but stole chips from everyone else as well. As long Deidara or Sasori stayed in her sight she was perfectly fine and soon Ino, Tenten, Sakura, Karin, Kin, Tayuya, Temari, Hinata, Hana and Konan were all sitting on the jungle gym or pushing Kiri in a baby swing or swinging along side her. Itachi, Sasuke, Pein, Naruto, Lee, Kankuro, Jugo, Zaku, Kiba and Hidan were playing touch football, Kidomaru was refereeing.

Choji and Shikamaru sat talking to Kakuzu, Gaara, Sai, Kimimaru and Kurenai. Shikamaru holding his godson as he sipped from a soda can and laughed along with the others. He was finding it easier to laugh as time passed and with the baby starting to move and grow he had more reasons to laugh.

"Hey, where are you going?" asked Sasori, who was sitting against the tree, his arm over Deidara's shoulders who had his own head on Sasori's chest, molding a small lump of clay in his hands absentmindedly. He was watching everyone talk and laugh and play together, thinking of how only a year ago they had rarely said two words to each other in the halls of school. He looked over at Kiri who was grinning from ear to ear as Konan folded a paper flower in front of her and then tied it to the elastic in her brown curls. He decided that if he taught his sister anything it would be not to let something as trivial as social casting prevent her from reaching out to people, because no matter how different you might seem from others, when it came right down to it, you really were the same. Acknowledging that, and having the desire to learn and assist everyone around you is the definition of human nature. He thought about the boy in black asking someone to explain that term to him. Deidara knew that he finally figured it out and he would make sure Kiri understood it as well.

"I just have to go see someone." Said Zetsu as he picked up a small vase of maybe four or five white Corinthians. "I'll be back in an hour or so."

"Hey there."

Zetsu waved to the smiling nurse behind the visitor's desk. "How is he?"

She just shrugged. "You're his only visitor you know." She said sadly. He didn't respond to this as he signed in and went into the back section of the psych ward.

"Zetsu." The boy in black said as he looked up from a book he was reading. Zetsu read the title, _The Thousand and One Knights_. That was an interesting choice. Did he think that his story was unending, like those tales were supposed to be?

Zetsu sat in a chair by the bed and placed the flowers on the end table. He stared hard into the face of the boy in black. "Which one are you?"

THE END

Pein: WTF? Which one is he?

Me: who? The boy in black?

EVERYONE: yes *leans in close to hear answer*

Me: I don't know

EVERYONE: *faints in exasperation*

Me: *turns to readers* hope you enjoyed it ^u^


End file.
